Four Kids Find A Journal
by 444timothy
Summary: A jock, a nerd, an outcast and an optimist uncover the mysteries of Gravity Falls with the help of a mysterious book they found in the middle of the woods.
1. S01E01: Gnome Way Home

**Author's Note: Okay, so I saw Thunderstrike16's and TvFan2244's crossovers for this and I thought to myself, what if only a select few were let in on the secret of the Journal, specifically two of the Pines kids and two of the Loud kids? And this story is the result of that. I'll warn you, Dipper and Lincoln won't be related in this story and there will be a very big focus on Lincoln and Lynn (they're my favourites) in comparison to the other Louds although they will have small roles in some chapters. Also, one last thing just to be clear: This is End of Season 1 Lincoln I'm writing about and it's going to be a very slight AU to make the story fit (one example here is that their Pop-Pop is located in Gravity Falls instead of wherever he is now).**

 **I will be using Australian/UK spelling so please excuse that.**

* * *

Lincoln Loud was bummed out at 7:00am in the morning. It was the first day of summer and he had detailed plans, outlining what he would do during the three month holiday period (which admittedly, was mostly filled with playing video games with Clyde, his best friend). The only problem was that he somehow completely forgot the fact that their entire family would be visiting their granddad over at the other side of the country.

"Wait, where are we going exactly?" Lincoln asked again to his mum,

"Honey," Lincoln's mum responded, carrying the last of her suitcases, "We're going all the way to Gravity Falls to visit your Pop-Pop!"

She finished packing her bags and belongings, putting them in the back of the family van.

"Do we really have to mum?" Lincoln whined, "I was planning on spending my summer vacation with Clyde and Ronnie-Anne."

"We know, but it's only for this one year. We haven't seen them for a long time. Also, your sisters will be coming with you so you're not the only one missing out."

"Oh ok," Lincoln grumbled, as he entered the family van. He took a seat near the window and looked outside. He saw a few of his sisters, engaged in their various activities. From the far left was Lori, his oldest sister who was on her smartphone, talking to her boyfriend Bobby saying how much she'll miss him. Next to her was Lynn, who was in her usual sportswear, stretching her body while occasionally completing star jumps. To the far right was Lisa, who was trying to explain the concept of gravity to a confused Leni. The rest of his sisters were in the van, either anxiously waiting for their parents to start their journey or sleeping, hoping they'll arrive at Gravity Falls when they take up.

Soon enough, everyone else got in the van, although it was clear that some were more enthusiastic than others. After everyone put their seatbelts, the van drove off into the distance, away from the familiarity of Royal Woods towards their next destination, Gravity Falls.

"It's only for this summer," Lincoln said, turning to the audience, "How crazy can it be?"

 _ ***Cue Gravity Falls Theme Song***_

"Kids," their mum shouted, "We're here!"

Lincoln woke up from a night's sleep in the van and looked from the window, wondering if they really have arrived. His confirmations were confirmed as he found himself gazing at the gigantic billboard poster, expressing a welcome to the small town. In the background, he could see the rising sun looking downwards at the simple forest and mountain landscape that lay below it. On the bottom left corner of the poster, was a yellow water-tower, standing there in its divine simplicity.

Of course, it took more than a single day to get to Oregon and there had been many uncomfortable nights sleeping in the van while their dad drove in the midnight hours. But they were finally here, and it was all that really mattered at the moment.

" _Welcome to Gravity Falls..."_ Lincoln read the sign to himself, before the van completely drove past it.

They were finally in Gravity Falls but they still needed to find their Pop-Pop's place. Luckily for them it only took around another thirteen minutes to get there according to the built-in GPS but for Lincoln, it was interesting to get some quick glances of the town from the van window. Judging from his first impressions, he could see that most of the population were locals but there were a few tourists amongst the mix, evident by them taking photos and wearing their typical holiday clothes.

Before they knew it, the van eventually reached Pop-Pop's house, situated on a small street. Everyone got off the van, excited and tired to see him. They all entered the house through the front door, wanting to see what the place looked like. Eventually, Lincoln walked inside and looked around, noticing how bland and simple the house was, as he expected. He could see that it was a tad smaller than the Loud household but it was still large enough to support more than ten people. Barely.

Their Pop-Pop came out of the kitchen, and smiled at his grandchildren, "Welcome kids."

"Sorry everyone, but there's only four guest rooms, so you'll have to share a room with someone," Pop-Pop explained, "Is that alright."

"That's perfectly fine," their mum responded, "We'll take one of them with my husband and Lily."

She turned around and looked at Lincoln and his siblings, "That leaves all of you with three rooms. I hope everyone can come up with some sort of agreement. I don't want to see anyone fighting. Is that clear?"

"Yes mum," they said in unison. Satisfied with the situation, she walked away and headed towards the kitchen, leaving the nine of them to themselves.

"Now what?" Leni blurted out.

"We check out our rooms," Lori answered back with a little annoyance, "Obviously."

Lori's younger siblings followed her to the three bedrooms, taking mental notes and calculating how much space each person had. It didn't take too long to check out all the rooms (admittedly it was only six minutes tops) but the three rooms weren't created evenly. In Lincoln's mind, he found that the first two rooms they went into were almost similar to each other, if not identical. They were spacious, just a bit bigger than the regular rooms that each of his sisters shared with one another, although it was obviously going to be a tiny bit more cramped. The problem was the final room that they noticed that it was the smallest bedroom out of the entire house. It was barely larger than the size of Lincoln's room back in Royal Woods and there was no way that three people can live there comfortably.

"Lori," Lisa, the genius of the group interrupted, "I assume that you worked our sleeping arrangements. I highly recommend a 4x4x2 split to fully maximize the space each of us obtain."

"Actually I don't. Lisa, can you lay me your ideas on me?"

"It's simple really. Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan get bedroom number #1, Lola, Lana, Lucy and Lisa get bedroom #2 while Lynn and Lincoln get bedroom #3."

"That is so unfair!"

"I agree with Lincoln," Lynn started to agree with him.

"Put your hands up if you are satisfied with this selection," Lisa ordered. A flurry of hands raised themselves up, causing Lisa to start counting them. Lincoln looked around the room and saw almost all her sisters put their hands up. In fact,

"I count eight votes out of a closed group of ten. The majority rules," Lisa simply states, "Lori, will you do the honours?

"It's decided then," Lori said, "Lincoln and Lynn are bunking together in the small bedroom."

* * *

The rest of the morning went fairly smooth for the most part. Most of the Loud family went back to the van to carry their own bags filled with belongings and empty them out onto their respective bedrooms. They only stopped when they were called to eat their breakfast and lunch.

It was at early afternoon that everyone was doing their own thing, just relaxing and doing what they enjoy naturally. However, one of Lincoln's sisters, Lynn wanted to go explore the town a little. There was just one problem.

"Can I go cycling the town mum?" Lynn pleaded, wearing her red helmet and riding her pink bicycle.

"Okay Lynn," she responded, "But you'll need to bring someone else with you. I can't let you go off on your own."

"Thanks mum!" Lynn said, rushing back to the house. This was going to be easy for her to find someone. Being a part of a large family had their perks sometimes. She had ten other siblings so at least one of them is bound to tag along with her. Right?

Unfortunately for her, all of her nine sisters declined, either saying that they're busy or that they're tired. She only had one other person that she could try to convince; Lincoln, her only brother. The only problem was that he was more of a nerd than someone who would play sports, let alone enjoy them. She remembered that one incident where Lynn covered for her brother because he was too lazy to play football. She sighed and opened the door to her bedroom. She immediately saw Lincoln lying on the bed, reading one of his Ace Savvy comics.

"Hey Lincoln, do you wanna hang out?"

On any other normal occasion, Lincoln would've declined straight away, but the dispirited tone in her voice made him guilty enough to hear her out, "Is there a catch?"

"Not really, but I just want to explore this town with me! Mum says that I need someone to go with me! I'm already bored!"

"I don't know," Lincoln tried to back out. The last thing he wanted to be doing was go outside and do something physical. Lincoln reclined his back deeper into the bed, "What about asking one of our other sisters?"

"I did and they all said no! C'mon, Linc! You have your own bicycle as well! _The one that I gave to you_!" Lynn complained.

That last statement hit Lincoln hard, making Lincoln think back to when he accidently lost Lynn's bike. He hadn't really returned the favour on that.

Defeated, Lincoln got up and placed his Ace Savvy comic book down on the bedside table, "Fine! Lead the way Lynn."

Following Lynn, Lincoln walked out from the front, grabbing his blue helmet along the way and putting it on. They walked over to the garage of their Pop-Pop's house, looking for their bikes that they brought with them.

"Ah, there they are!" Lynn pointed to the two bicycles that were just laying there, alongside some miscellaneous items, "Let's take these babies for a spin!"

Lynn grinned and started to cycle away from the garage and from Lincoln who was trying to catch up to her, "Lincoln, hurry up! We don't have all day!"

The rest of the ride was spent slowly to compensate for Lincoln's lack of physical ability. They rode their bicycles around the nearby parts of town, passing by various outlets and stores as well as general buildings such as the local police station and the arcade (which Lincoln wanted to stop at if Lynn didn't give him the glare). Eventually, after an hour of cycling, Lincoln was panting, tired from all the exercise he did with Lynn.

"Let's... go... home," Lincoln panted, drinking from one of the water bottles Lynn brought with her.

"Okay bro," Lynn agreed with him, "But let's take the forest path. I heard it's much more dangerous!"

"Dangerous?" Lincoln gulped.

"Don't be such a baby Lincoln," Lynn teased, "You'll be fine."

The forest path was a little bit unorthodox and windy in comparison to the straightforward paths that were located in the town. As he was following Lynn, he noticed Lynn taking in the surroundings, clearly enjoying the (almost) off-road experience while riding the path. Lincoln on the other hand, didn't really enjoy it as much, instead trying really hard to not fall off and break some of his bones. Thankfully, he kept his balance and before he knew it, he could see that they were only five minutes away from their house. Unfortunately for him, Lynn suddenly pressed her brakes, stopping at a secluded but somehow nice area of the forest. Lincoln follows suit, confused.

"Why did we stop?" Lincoln asked. He took off his helmet and laid his own bike down on a nearby tree stump.

"C'mon, let's take a look around the area!" Lynn said, "This is like the perfect place for me to get up and exercise! And it's only five minutes away from here!" She grinned and ran around the area, running around enthusiastically before hearing some distant but barely audible footsteps coming closer to them. Lynn stopped in her tracks.

"You hear that Linc?" Lynn whispered. Lincoln nodded in response, fear starting to rack up inside his body.

"Let's get out of here," Lynn urged, quietly walking towards her own bike, "Lincoln what are you waiting for?"

Lincoln wanted to move but found himself paralysed from fear. He wanted to run away but his fear was stopping him for doing so.

"Lincoln! Snap out of it!" Lynn muttered, trying to drag his brother. The sounds of footsteps were getting closer and another sound was added to the mix, this sound, it was the sound of banging wood with a blunt object.

Realizing that her efforts were fruitless, she decided to stop trying to drag Lincoln and face the source of noise.

Lynn turned around and saw two figures, almost her size, from a distance holding a cart filled with wooden signs. She took a deep breath and watched them move towards her position. As they came closer, she could see them more clearly, and she soon calmed down, after realizing who they were. From her judgement, she estimated that they were twins, around Lincoln's age. The first was a brown-haired boy frowning, wearing some sort of brown hat with a pine tree imprinted on the front of it. The one next to him was a brown-haired girl, wearing a pink jumper of some sort, an image of a rainbow showing on the front.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Lynn shouted at the two kids. The two of them stopped in their path and looked back at them. Lynn could see them speak with each other, out of hearing range before finally replying back to his question.

"I could ask you the same thing," the brown-haired boy shouted back, trying to sound threatening but failing, "Where did you come from?"

Lynn saw right through it, "That's not of y-"

"We're actually from Royal Woods in Michigan," Lincoln answered back, with most of his fear out of his system. He felt a light shoulder punch from his sister almost immediately after saying that. Lincoln turned to his sister, "What? It's not like they can actually track us down after we leave."

Lincoln turned away and focused back on the two twins, "Sorry if we're on private property, we were just leaving."

"Its fine," the female twin assured, as they walked towards Lincoln and Lynn, "It's not our property either as well! We're actually helping our Grunkle Stan advertise by putting these signs up!"

She got out one of the signs, showing Lynn an arrow shaped sign with the words ' _TO THE MYSTERY SHACK_ ' written in red on it.

"Yeah," the other twin continued, grabbing the sign off his sister, "Even though I see no point in putting up these signs here."

"Grunkle?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

"It stands for Great Uncle," the girl said quite proudly with a smile, "We just combined it into a more fun name!"

"Sorry if we scared you," Lincoln apologised, "I'm Lincoln. I hope we see each other again."

"Hey, I thought you were the one who got scared?" Lynn said absentmindedly. Lincoln shot Lynn a death glare.

"Well, my name is Mabel!" the girl introduced, shaking Lincoln's hand enthusiastically and hard, "And this is my brother Dippy."

"It's actually Dipper," he corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm only messing with you bro," Mabel laughed, "But Dippy does sound a lot better in my opinion."

"In my opinion, it doesn't," Dipper expressed, "Hey, what's your name?"

"I'm Lynn," she introduced herself smiling.

"So, you need help with those signs?" Lincoln offered.

"It's fine reall-"

"We would love too!" Mabel grinned.

Dipper blinked, "Are you sure Lincoln. I mean these signs sure are heavy!"

"Not really," Lincoln interjected, "This is our first day here at Gravity Falls."

"Oh my god me too!" Mabel blurted out, "We have so much in common already!"

"Mabel, we've been here for four days."

"Um, of course I knew that," Mabel nervously reassured her brother, before grabbing a bunch of signs in her hands, "I'll just go now."

While the four kids were busy putting up signs around the area, Lincoln stumbles across an unusual sound of a metal clang against the tree that Lincoln tried to hammer.

"Weird..."

Using the hammer that Dipper gave him, he carefully hammered against the tree again, carefully observing the sound coming out of it. Sure enough, the sound was different, albeit slightly. He slowly ran his hand across the area he banged, trying to feel for anything that served as a clue to what this strange tree was here for. Eventually his fingers run over a small bump. He pressed them against it, pulling it like it was a handle, causing a small panel to open up outside of the tree, revealing an electronic device with many wires hanging loosely, with two tiny levers planted on the top and a whole coat of dust covering it.

Lincoln started to fiddle around and flip the switches trying to work out if any of them function. As he played around with the last switch, his ears felt a grinding noise behind him, prompting the white-haired boy to turn around. He saw a trapdoor slowly opening up in the ground, startling Mabel, who was standing close to the hidden opening.

"Woah!" Mabel gasped. She turned her head at Lincoln, who was standing close to the hidden device, "What did you do?"

"I just pressed on some random levers. I didn't know that was going to happen!"

The two rush over to the trapdoor, seeing something lie in the hatch. Taking a closer look, the two of them could see it contained a thick book, covered with dust on the front cover. Mabel stared at Lincoln in suspense, signalling him using her eyes to pick up the book.

"Lincoln! It's covered in dust," Mabel whined, "My pretty hands can't get dirty!"

"Ugh, I'll do it." Lincoln said, rolling his eyes after being certain that Mabel won't change her mind. He reached down to pick up the book and observed it. From the state of it, the book must've been decades old. Delicately, Lincoln slowly started to rub off the dust off the front cover. He wasn't even halfway done with the task when he felt Mabel blow on the book, causing some dust to land on his face.

"Was that necessary?"

She smirked, "Absolutely!"

The dust cleared, revealing a yellow six-fingered hand symbol and the number three on the cover. He puts the book down on the ground, and flips over the cover. The first thing he noticed when he opened it was the monocle inside. He looked at it and handed it to Mabel, using it to pretend to be an old person.

"I feel like I'm 100 years older," Mabel giggled to herself, playing with the item.

Lincoln ignored her and flipped over the page again, this time covered in writing and marked with a date.

Lincoln read out from one of the pages of the journal, "June 18. It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon."

He flipped over several pages, taking quick glances at the various pages, seeing the illustrations of the supernatural creatures and objects that made Lincoln shiver a little just by looking at them. If Mabel wasn't there with him, he would've closed and hid the book, out of fear. But he was intrigued, focused on anything that might grab his interest.

Soon, he stopped flicking when he saw three specific words in big bold letters catch his attention.

"Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before he finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust."

Lincoln paid attention at the big three words printed on the bottom, **TRUST NO ONE!**.

"Trust no-one?" Mabel scoffed at the journal, "Now that's just silly! Why shouldn't I trust anyone?"

"Trust who?"

"Ah!" Lincoln yelped out in surprise, "Lynn! Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry," she apologised, before quickly changing the subject, "What'cha got there, some nerd thing again like usual?"

Lincoln wanted to hide the journal almost immediately, not exactly wanting Lynn to tease him again for doing nerdy things but he knew it would mean too much effort. Also, she already saw it, "Uh, I just found it. It looks boring and old so I'm just putting it away."

Lynn let out a small laugh, "Really? Do you actually expect me to believe that? What's in it?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" asked Dipper, who was returning from hanging all of his signs, "Lincoln? Where did you find it?"

Before Lincoln spoke up, Mabel answered for him, "We found it into a secret area after Lincoln did some thingies!"

Mabel pointed towards the opened hatch.

"Wait, really? Lincoln, you got to show me this."

"Sure, I guess," the white haired boy replied, handing the journal to Dipper. Lincoln shrugged with disinterest. It was probably some book for a kids' scavenger hunt.

Dipper opened up the journal and began to read excerpts of the book inside his head. Lincoln observed Dipper reading but soon noticed that he was a lot more invested into the book, reading it with excitement and suspense. Eventually, he reached the page that Lincoln stopped reading at. He was at that page for a good 15 seconds before he closed it abruptly.

"We need to go somewhere private," Dipper said to Mabel, as he felt a sudden chilly gust of wind on his neck.

"What about Lincoln?" Mabel protested, "He found it first."

"And me."

"Yeah, and Lynn as well. They can totally come to our private place!" Mabel exclaimed, "Right Dipper?"

Dipper sighed, "Okay, fine."

* * *

If a two dollar shop and a museum could have a baby, it would spawn the Mystery Shack. That's what Lincoln thought anyway, as he followed Dipper and Mabel through the designated tourist trap of this town. He walked through the gift shop, scoffing at the many _souvenirs_ (if he could even call them that) such as bumper stickers, key chains and blank shirts with question mark either printed on them or shaped like one.

"Fifty dollars for a T-shirt? Who buys this stuff?"

"You'd be surprised," Dipper simply responded with a disappointed sigh.

After following the twins into their home, Lincoln and Lynn soon reached the attic of the Mystery Shack which also was co-indecently the bedroom for the both of them. For the first few minutes, Mabel excitedly showed Lincoln and Lynn around the room, giving them a full tour for a good few minutes. Soon enough, Mabel had shown everything and decided to get to the point.

"So Dippingsauce, what was so private that we couldn't do it out in a creepy forest?"

Dipper ignored the nickname Mabel gave him, instead, smiling widely.

"This journal is amazing!" exclaimed Dipper, "Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side."

"You only skimmed the book for five seconds before. How did you manage to read all of it now?" Lincoln asked.

"He's a big nerd," Mabel teased, punching Dipper playfully, "Of course he's going to find a way."

"I skimmed through it while you three were on your tour adventures. It basically confirms my suspicions about this place! The strange noises I hear at night, the mosquito bites that spelled out 'BEWARE', it all makes sense now!"

"That says 'BEWARP'," Lynn pointed out.

"You know what it meant. Besides, I haven't got to the strangest part. After a certain point, the pages just stop, like the guy who was writing it, mysterious disappeared."

Dipper flipped over to the last few pages of the journal, which were all blank. Lincoln remained unconvinced.

"I don't know," Lincoln said honestly, "This just seems a little too crazy for me to believe."

"You don't believe me either?"

Lincoln was about to open his mouth but the doorbell rang suddenly, making everybody look up, "Who's that?"

From downstairs, Lincoln could hear an old man yell, "Mabel, another one of your friends is here!"

"Another one?" gasped Dipper

"Well," Mabel said ominously, "Guess it's time to spill the beans!"

She deliberately spilled an empty can of beans that was lying on the bedside table, "This girl's got a date! Woot woot!"

She jumped onto her bed, with her back first.

"Let me get this straight... in the four days we've been here, you already found a boyfriend?"

She grinned, "What can I say? I guess I'm just..."

Dipper embraced for the worst.

"ER-RI-SIZ-TIBLE!" Mabel said in a very silly tone, as she pulled her arms into her sleeves and threw the limp sleeves of her sweater around. This elicited a groan from Dipper.

"Mabel. I don't have all day to waste profit!" Stan yelled, warning Mabel from downstairs "Your friend is waiting."

"I'm coming!" she called back.

"Good. If you need me, I'll be in the front, selling cheap objects for triple the price!"

Mabel ran out of the room, which prompted Dipper to do the same, grabbing the journal on his bed and run downstairs to see who Mabel's new boyfriend is. There was no way she's already found another boy. Lincoln and Lynn followed him downstairs.

As soon as everyone was downstairs, Mabel walked into the living room, happily, dragging along a tall teenage boy wearing a black hoodie over his head.

"Say hello to my new boyfriend!"

The hooded teen turned his head to greet the three of them.

"Sup?"

Dipper stared at the teen with a grim face while Lincoln and Lynn look at him with a weird look.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Nothin' much. You?"

"Uh..." Mabel's boyfriend hummed before Mabel interrupted.

"We met at a cemetery! He's _really_ cool." Mabel boasted. She felt his arm, leaning on him affectionately in the process, "Ooh. A little muscle there. That's... what a surprise!"

"So, what's your name?" Lincoln asked in a nonchalant tone, attempting leaning on a nearby wall with his arms crossed.

"Um... Normal... MAN!"

"He means Norman," said Mabel, laughing it off.

The gnomes chase the four of them but they get away.

Lincoln and Lynn get jobs working at the Mystery Shack.

"Are you bleeding Norman?" Dipper asked, motioning to the red liquid on his right cheek.

Normal looked dazed for a moment, leaving a few seconds of silence to linger around the room.

"It's jam," Norman finally responded gruffly. Mabel used her finger to wipe off the red substance and licked it.

"Mmm, strawberry flavour!" Mabel giggled, "That's my favourite flavour. Look at this!"

Mabel motioned her hands, pointing her pointy fingers to the two of them.

"So, you want to go hold hand or whatever?" Norman asked.

"Oh, oh my goodness," Mabel giggled, placing a hand over her mouth trying to stifle herself from full-on laughter. Dipper shifted his attention towards Lincoln and Lynn, trying to watch their reactions. Lincoln was still attempting to act cool in front of Norman, exaggerating what he thinks cool kids do. Lynn on the other hand was just tired, yawning a little.

"Don't wait up!" Mabel waved goodbye, dragging Norman out the door, but not before hearing something banging against the front door a couple of times. Then silence.

"Dipper, I want you to be honest with me."

Dipper turned back to Lincoln, who had a desperate look on his face. Dipper shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure."

"Do you think I was cool?" Lincoln asked.

Dipper hesitated. On one hand, he knew that he was overdoing it. But he didn't want to hurt Lincoln's feelings. He thought about it for a second. Maybe a second too long however, as Lincoln picked up on it.

"I knew it! Was it the hair? My body movement? My tone of voice?" Lincoln panicked, worried about his social status.

"It's not you. There's just... something off about Norman."

"I don't think so," Lynn admitted, "He seemed like an ordinary teenager but he is definitely not Mabel's type."

"Yeah, how did she get someone like him to go out with her?" Lincoln agreed, but perplexed.

Dipper pulled out the book, trying to find an entry in the journal to confirm his suspicions, "There has to be something in here,"

Lynn rolled her eyes.

"I think you're overreacting with this," Lynn stated her opinion. Lincoln meanwhile looked at the time on the nearby clock, reading 4:30.

"Well, we should be going now," Lincoln said, "It was great meeting you."

"Hey, we're friends right?" Dipper asked, a tinge of nervousness evident in his voice.

Lincoln shot Dipper a confused look, "Yeah. You're alright. Why?"

"I don't really have many friends," Dipper admits.

"Gee, I wonder why," Lynn casually comments, leading to her receiving a pretty nasty glare from Lincoln.

"Don't listen to my sister," said Lincoln, "We'll visit you tomorrow. _Right Lynn_?"

Lynn looked at Lincoln who was surprisingly still fiercely glaring straight into her eyes. Admittedly, maybe that comment she made earlier was uncalled for.

"Sure, I'll be there," she answered, although half-heartedly. Lincoln's hand was already on the doorknob, as they were preparing to leave.

"Cya tomorrow Dipper!" Lincoln waved, smiling innocently.

"Yeah, tomorrow..." Dipper's voice drifted off.

As they left, Dipper looked outside from one of the windows, watching from the distance that Lincoln and Lynn were having a little argument. But he shrugged it off. There were more important issues at stake.

Dipper fixed his cap, looking determined with the journal in his hands, "Let's do this!"

* * *

For Lincoln and Lynn, the next few days were more or less the same routine. In the mornings, each member of the Loud family woke up to eat their breakfast before either staying in their rooms doing what they usually do or for some, go outside and spend their savings on the local shops. For Lincoln, he preferred to stay and read his comics over again for the eighth time while Lynn got herself outside to exercise and stay fit.

It was the afternoons that were the highlights. Every day at thirty minutes past two, Lynn and Lincoln would grab their bicycles to go to the Mystery Shack, for a visit. On any other given situation, Lincoln would've said no to the idea of exercising, but due to the fact that it was only a five minute ride there and that he made his first friends with Dipper and Mabel in this town, he just couldn't say no to them.

It was their third day at Gravity Falls and Lincoln was once again excited to see Dipper again. However, Lincoln could feel that Dipper had a problem he was facing. The day before, Dipper apparently believed that Mabel's boyfriend was a zombie. Lincoln watched his sister lie down on Mabel's bed, back first, taking a little rest.

"I don't know if he's a zombie or if I am just going crazy," Dipper expressed his thoughts to the two Loud kids.

"You're probably the latter," Lynn blurted out. Lincoln couldn't help to secretly agree with her but he needed to support his theory somehow.

"Who knows? But you got to have proof for your claims. Otherwise, people are going to think you as a major league cuckoo clock."

"Like me right now," Lynn said, throwing a nearby baseball up in the air and catching it several times.

Dipper nodded, "You're right Lincoln, I need evidence."

"But how are you going to get evidence without Mabel finding out that you're stalking her boyfriend?" Lynn asked Dipper.

Lincoln turned back to Dipper, knowing that he too was thinking of how to solve that question.

* * *

Over the next few days, Dipper and (with a bit of convincing) Lincoln spent each afternoon spying on Mabel and Norman. With the video camera that Lincoln _borrowed_ from Luan, one of Lincoln's older sisters, they recorded everything they did, from casual activities like Frisbee to more strange ones like running together through the graveyard. After reviewing the footage they took, he noticed that Norman often fumbled around, even falling into an open grave at some point. However, it wasn't enough to convince Lincoln, even though Dipper remained more convinced.

* * *

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and Lincoln, Lynn and Mabel were gathered inside the attic, just hanging out and talking casually. Mabel continued brushing her hair, getting ready for a date, when suddenly her brother Dipper burst into the room with a journal clutched underneath his right arm.

"Mabel, we have to talk to you about Norman!"

"Isn't he the best?" Mabel sighed, infatuated, "Check out this smooch mark he gave me!"

She turned her head, showing everyone the huge pink mark on her cheek. Dipper and Lincoln let out a small scream out in shock while Lynn just smirked.

"I'm impressed Mabel," said Lynn, congratulating her. Mabel just laughed.

"Ha, ha! Gullible. It was just an accident with the leaf blower."

She was silent for a moment, thinking of the incident that happened a few hours prior, "That was fun."

"Listen, Mabel. What I'm trying to say is that Norman isn't what he seems!" Dipper held up the journal to support his statement.

Mabel gasped and put a hand over her mouth, "You think he might be a vampire?" she asked excitedly, "That would be so awesome."

"Sorry but Dipper's theory makes much more sense,"

"What are you talking about Lincoln?"

"I'm talking about this, shabam!" Dipper opened the journal and held it out closer to Mabel's face. Mabel looked confused and slightly unsettled at what he was suggesting.

"Wrong page?" Lynn questioned, looking at the gnomes page of the journal.

"Oh, wait. Ignore that," Dipper flipped over a few more pages, showing a creepy-looking zombie, "Sha-bam!"

Mabel looked at Dipper with doubt.

"A zombie?" she said, sceptically, "That is not funny, Dipper."

"I'm not joking! It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp... He never blinks! Have you noticed that?" Dipper asked, beginning to pace around in circles.

"The bleeding was strawberry jam."

"He could have a broken leg after tripping over."

"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking?"

The three other kids bombarded him with their reasoning, not convinced of Dipper's point.

"Mabel, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls?" Dipper reminded her sister, " _Trust No One!_?"

"You didn't even find the book! Why should I trust you?" she asked him, before putting on her star earrings, "Beep bop!"

Mabel, he's gonna eat your brain!" Dipper shouted, shaking her.

Now Mabel was getting mad, "Dipper, listen to me, Norman and I are going on a date at 5 o'clock and I am going to be adorable!" she started poking Dipper hard in the chest on beat with her words.

"Wait, b-b-but, bu-"

"And he's gonna be so dream and I'm not gonna let you ruin it with one of your _crazy conspiracies_!"

With that, Mabel pushed Dipper out of the room, slamming the door behind her, leaving Lincoln and Lynn in the room with his sister.

"Ouch," Lynn simply commented.

"Was I too hard?" Mabel asked almost immediately, feeling the guilt come on.

"It's okay Mabel," Lincoln comforted her; "He's just being a bit overprotective towards you, just like I am when I'm worried about my younger sisters."

"You have more than one sister?"

"Actually, he has nine more," Lynn remarked. Mabel looked surprised.

"I'll tell you about it later," Lincoln assured, before his eyes started to shine, "But right now you've got a date soon! Trust me; I know exactly what you should wear!"

* * *

 _'Wow, she looks really nice and cute.'_

Lincoln watched as the girl he helped dress up walked around the living room waiting for her boyfriend to come. He looked over at Lynn who seemed pretty happy with how she looked, despite not being too keen on the girly side of things.

The doorbell rings, stopping Mabel in her tracks. She opened the door and grinned even wider than usual when she saw her boyfriend again. Lincoln was slightly ticked off seeing him wear the same black hoodie and he wanted to say something. However, he didn't really want to risk Mabel's bad side like he saw an hour earlier.

"Hey Norman, how do I look?"

"Sparkly!"

"You always know what to say!" she says before walking off with him.

Dipper sighed in defeat, slouching back into one of the couches and re-watching the tape that the two boys recorded over the past few days, occasionally fast-forwarding the footage. Noticing how bad he feels, Lincoln walked up to the saddened boy and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You okay buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Dipper lied, "You were right. I don't have any real evidence."

He handed Lincoln back the video camera, "Here, you can have it back."

Lincoln gladly grabbed the camera and watched the remainder of the footage. It was currently playing the part where Mabel and Norman had their backs turned, standing beside each other, having their inner arm wrapped around each other's back. However, as he watched the footage, he couldn't help but feel there was something off about the footage.

"I guess I can be kind of paranoid sometimes and –"

"Wait, WHAT THE HECK?"

Lincoln screamed, interrupting Dipper and shocking Lynn. He rewinds the tape, trying to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks with him. Sure enough, he knew the truth.

"What is it Linc?" his sister asked, with sincere concern. She walked over to the video camera and watched the footage with Lynn, before being just as shocked, "Wow, even I can't explain that."

"Eeeck! You were right all along!" Lincoln exclaimed, "Wow. I can't believe I didn't notice that!"

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I need to find Grunkle Stan!" he tells them, racing outside to find him. This left Lincoln in charge.

"Lynn, you need to find Mabel as soon as possible," Lincoln ordered Lynn, pointing to the front door where her bike laid stationary, "I'll go after Dipper and get help."

The two siblings ran out of the Shack to their respective locations, hoping that it wasn't too late to save Mabel.

* * *

Lincoln raced outside, following Dipper towards a tour group, trying to get the attention of the old man in the front.

"Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Stan!" Dipper tried to yell across to the old man only for his voice to be drowned out by the excited crowd of tourists and their questions. He could see his Grunkle Stan getting frustrated at their increasingly stupid questions.

"For the last time, it's a rock that looks like a face!"

Dipper kept on shouting his name over and over but he was still ignored. Lincoln tapped Dipper on the shoulder, thinking of an idea.

"C'mon Dipper," pushed Lincoln, pointing over to his own bicycle, "I've got a bike that we can use!"

The two of them began to run towards Lincoln's bike when a red-haired teenage girl, looking to be around Luna's age, drove up in the golf cart.

"Dipper, you made a new friend already?" She grinned.

"Yeah, I'm Lincoln," he replied before pulling off a serious face, "But seriously, Mabel is in trouble!"

"And we need to borrow the golf cart so we can save her from a zombie!" Dipper added, pleading to her.

She stared at the two of them for a couple of seconds before shrugging and handing Dipper the keys, "Try not to hit any pedestrians."

"Uh huh, got it," Dipper replied before him and Lincoln got onto the golf cart, and inserted the keys into the ignition. With Lincoln situated on the passenger seat, Dipper placed both his hands on the steering wheel and stomped his foot on the gas pedal, jerking it forward. Before they even got ten metres away, a slightly chubby man in a grey shirt with a big black painted question mark printed on the front stopped them in their tracks.

"Dudes, it's just me Soos," the man told them, before handing them a shovel, "This is for the zombies."

Lincoln grabbed it off him and placed it at the back, "Thanks."

"And this is in case you see a Pinata," the man also handed over a baseball bat.

"Thanks again?" Lincoln thanked but with a bit of confusion in his tone. He put the baseball bat in the back as well, before Dipper drove off into the wilderness, praying that he would find Mabel before the worst could happen.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lynn sped through one of the dirt paths in the forest, shouting the word Mabel over and over every few seconds, hoping for a response that just never came. It would have been made a fairly nice stroll, were it not for the sheer frightening thought of Mabel being eaten by a zombie. She reached a tight corner and turned sharply, zooming past the assorted trees and various types of scenery that surrounded her. She tried to cycle up a small hill, hoping for a better view pushing herself harder and harder but before she reached the top, she heard _that voice of help_ , right ahead of the hill. With her new-founded determination, Lynn pushed forward and braced for a beat down.

* * *

" _Hhhheeeeeellllppppp!_ "

The frightening sound of Mabel's scream filled the forest with a creepy eeriness, sending chills to the two boys in the speeding golf cart. Using their ears, they followed the source of the sound, while making sure they don't crash into trees. They eventually reached a very odd path, a deep forest opening that didn't feel natural at all yet somehow there was some sort of unknown type of creature making their home there. On the inside, he could see various gemstones illuminating a very faint glow of light, revealing mushrooms and fungi scattered across the area.

"I don't know about this," Lincoln hesitated; feeling scared all of a sudden. This was definitely out of his comfort zone.

"We have no choice. I need to save my sister and you're coming with me!" Dipper told the younger boy, switching on the headlights and accelerating.

Only to stop almost immediately when Dipper realised how close he actually was to Mabel. He stomped his foot as hard as he could on the brakes, just barely avoiding running over his sister. From a closer glance, he noticed that Lynn was also there, her bike several metres away from her position. The two of them were pinned down by loose rope and short creatures that looked like... gnomes?

"Wait, Lynn?" Lincoln got off the gold cart and ran towards her sister, "What's going on?"

Before he got any closer to his sister, one of the gnomes got in the way and hissed at him, making him step back a little.

"Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes!" Lynn explained, trying to wave off the gnomes that were surrounding her, "And they're total jerks."

"Gnomes? Huh, I was way off," Dipper pulled out the journal, flipping through it, swiftly finding the page on gnomes. He read the entry. "Gnomes, little men of the Gravity Falls forest: weaknesses unknown."

"Aw, come on really?"

"Hey, let go of our sisters!" Lincoln essentially snarled.

One of the gnomes walked up on a stable rock and looked at Lincoln.

"Oh, hey there," he started nervously, "This is just all some big misunderstanding. They're not really in danger; they're just marrying all one thousand of us and becoming our queens for all eternity! Isn't that right, sweethearts?"

"You guys are butt-faces!" Mabel shouted, struggling to be free against the rope. In response, one of the gnomes covered her mouth with their hands. The gnomes looked over at Lynn, who was sweating nervously.

"Yeah, I'll keep my mouth shut,"

Dipper grabbed the shovel from the back of the cart and waved it around threateningly and frantically, "Give them back right now, or else!"

The gnome in front was starting to lose his patience, "You think you can stop us? You have no idea what we're capable of. The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with-"

"I've heard enough," Lincoln interrupted. With a baseball bat in his hands, he swung it against the gnome with ease, making him fly across to the side. Sensing an opportunity, Dipper ran towards the two girls, using the sharp edge of the spade to cut the thin rope biding the both of them, allowing Mabel to escape from the gnome's grasp and Lynn to grab her bike before heading back to the golf cart. Lynn dumped her bike at the back and hopped in on the back with Mabel, hoping they could escape before the gnomes started to realise they're escaping.

"Seatbelts everyone?"

"Lincoln, now isn't the time."

"Just put your seatbelt on, dang it!" Lincoln scolded his sister. Once comfortable with the sounds of various seatbelts clicking, he turned back to Dipper, "Now drive!"

Dipper threw the car in reverse and hit the gas, successfully circling out of the dim grassy clearing and back onto the forest path.

"They're getting away with our queens! No, no, no," one of the gnomes cried out angrily as they drove off.

The golf cart was making their way back to safety in the Mystery Shack. They passed the crest of a hill and a wooden bridge fixated on top of a river. Dipper checked the rear-view mirror, seeing if there were any gnomes chasing him. To his relief, he saw the empty forest landscape and her sister Mabel alongside Lynn. He calmed down and de-accelerated the cart, keeping it at a moderate speed.

"Hurry, we need to go faster!" Mabel urged Dipper, noticing the change of speed. Lincoln turned around.

"I don't think we should worry about it. Have you seen how tiny they are? My six-year-old sisters can run faster than them!"

Just then, as if on cue, a loud thumping sound echoed behind them.

"What was that?" Mabel asked nervously, as Dipper stepped on the brakes. She looked behind herself, answering her own question. Behind them was a gigantic humanoid monster, made up entirely of gnomes. On the top was the gnome that Lincoln hit earlier ago, looking ticked off.

"Teamwork guys, like we practised," the leader gnome said, "Let's take our queens back!"

"What are you waiting for?" Lynn yelled at the 12-year-old driver, "Drive already!"

Wasting no time, the gold cart sped off again at its maximum speed, narrowly escaping a giant fist slamming down on them. The leader gnome cursed himself and controlled the monster to walk towards the cart, thrusting its hand towards them and launching gnomes at it. Seeing the flying angry gnomes homing in on the vehicle, Mabel and Lynn grabbed the shovel and baseball bat respectively from the boot, whacking the gnomes back to them. However, the monster easily caught the countered gnomes with its hands, placing them back onto its body.

Unfortunately, a lone gnome made its way past Mabel and Lynn, latching himself onto Dipper's face, clawing at it with his tiny hands.

"I've got this," Lincoln exclaimed, repeatedly punching the gnome off Dipper's face (and also accidentally punching Dipper a few times as well). After a couple more punches, the gnome lost its grip and (along with Dipper's hat) flew out of the window.

"Thanks Lincoln," Dipper said with a dash of wooziness. He quickly recovered though, and soon he was in full focus.

"Don't mention it buddy."

Behind the cart, the giant gnome monster uprooted a tree, hurling it at them. It went over their heads, crashing about forty feet in front of them.

"Look out!" Lincoln yelled as Dipper swerved to avoid the tree. The cart managed to drive under the tree but didn't swerve in time to avoid a rather tight corner, crashing right in front of the Mystery Shack. The four of them dragged themselves out of the vehicle, hoping for an escape route. Lincoln grabbed the shovel of Mabel, as the towering gnome creature slowly stalked towards them as they backed up against the side of the shack, blocking their only exit.

"Stay back, man!" Lincoln yelled at the gnomes, pointing the shovel at them. The gnomes sneered and continued to go further. Frightened, Lincoln threw the shovel as hard as he could at the creature. It flew lowly in an arc before pathetically landing at the giant's foot, just barely tapping one of its toes. In response, the gnome monster lifted up its foot and stomped it dramatically, before stepping off of it, leaving remains of the destroyed shovel.

"That shovel was as light as a feather. How did you even mess that up?"

"I'm a comic book reader, not a javelin thrower," Lincoln defended himself, before quickly changing the subject, "Hey, where is everyone?"

* * *

Grunkle Stan was inside, showing one of Lincoln's sisters, Leni a particular item to her. In her hands were several bags, full of shopping from the Gravity Falls mall. Grunkle Stan himself didn't even know how she got here in the first place. But she was made of money.

"Behold, the world's most distracting object!" he unveiled, a hand-held swirly wheel. He pulled a string attached to it, making it start spinning hypnotically.

"Ooooooh," Leni marvelled.

"Just try to look away, you can't!" the man claimed. Leni stared in awe at the wheel, before the spinning came to a stop.

"Awwww," Leni mumbled.

"Now that will be another dollar to look at it again," Stan asserted. Leni happily gave him a dollar coin before Stan pulled the string again.

"Ooooooh," Leni marvelled again.

* * *

"It's the end of the line kids!" Jeff shouted as the giant took another step closer towards them, "Marry us before we do something crazy!"

"I gotta do it."

Dipper looked at Mabel, surprised at the very mention of the idea, "What?! Mabel, don't do this! Are you crazy?"

"Trust me."

"What?" Dipper blurted out in shock.

"Dipper, just this once. Trust me!"

The boy looked around, glancing at the gnomes then back at Mabel. Taking a deep breath, he decided to lay his trust on her and backed out of the way.

"Okay, I'll marry you on the condition that you let my brother Dipper and my friends Lincoln and Lynn go."

The lead gnome thought about it for a second before nodding, "We got ourselves a deal!"

He pumped his head, celebrating victory, "Bingo! Alright, just let me down there Jason," he proceeded to climb down the tower of gnomes, while adding some rather awkward comments along the way such as:

"Thanks Andy!"

"Alright, I'm coming through the left foot."

"Whoa, watch those fingers Mike!"

Lincoln cringed at those comments but soon enough, he got down on the ground and eventually on one knee, holding out a diamond ring. Mabel held out her right hand, letting the gnome put the ring on one of her fingers.

"Alright, now let's get you back into the forest, sweetheart!"

'Wait, you forgot one important thing."

The gnome stopped in his steps, "And what's that."

Mabel subtly winked at Lincoln, giving him the signal. She turned back to the gnome, "You may now kiss the bride!"

"Well, don't mind if I do!" the gnome smugly responded, closing his eyes and puckering his lips. As he leant closer, Mabel moved out of the way and grabbed the nearby leaf-blower. She turned it on, switching it to 'SUCK' and aimed it directly at the gnomes head.

"Ah! Hey, hey, wait a minute!" the gnome protested, "Whoa, whoa! Wh-what's goin' on?!"

"That's for lying for me!"

Mabel flicked one of the switches, increasing the sucking power.

"That's for kidnapping me!"

Mabel pointed the leaf blower at Lincoln who was still holding the bat. Lynn looked at her brother with annoyance.

"Nope, there's no way I'm letting you play ball," Lynn exclaimed, as she grabbed the baseball bat off him. She held the bat, and faced Mabel, with a confident smirk on her face.

"And THIS is for trying to hurt my friends!"

Mabel aimed the leaf blower at Lynn, who was grinning widely with excitement.

"Wanna do the honours?"

"My pleasure," Lynn simply answered.

"Batter up!" Mabel yelled, switching the leaf-blower to 'BLOW'. The gnome flew past a few metres before feeling the impact of a baseball bat being swung with the speed of a moving car, sending him straight into the heart of the monster, completely destroying it and scattering the gnomes everywhere, leaving them without a leader to control them.

"Who's giving orders?"

"Orders! I need orders!"

"My arms are broken."

"Dude, really?" another gnome groaned at the previous comment, before running away.

"Home run!" Lynn screamed in the air, before cheering on herself, "Go Lynn! Go Lynn!"

Dipper stomped his foot to get their attention.

"Anyone else want some?" He boasted confidently, while Mabel and Lynn waved their 'weapons' around. The gnomes all fled off back into the forest, deciding they were indeed outmatched, though one was caught by a piece of rubbish before being carried off by a nearby goat.

"Thanks guys," Mabel as the last of the gnomes scurried off, "And I'm sorry Dipper for not believing you. You really were just looking out for me."

"We're sorry as well for shrugging off your theories," Lincoln apologised to Dipper, "I guess there's really more to this town."

"Aw, don't be like that," Dipper said with a dismissive wave, "You three saved our butts out there."

Mabel sighed in sadness. "I'm just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes."

Dipper placed a hand on his sister's shoulder, "Well, look on the bright side. Maybe the next one will be a vampire."

Mabel cracked a smile at that statement, "Come on, you're just saying that."

"Awkward sibling hug?" Dipper asked, opening his arms.

"Awkward sibling hug," Mabel replied as she hugged back.

"Um, should we go or?"

'Come on here you two!" Mabel exclaimed as she dragged Lincoln and Lynn into the hug, "Hugs for everyone!"

* * *

"Yeesh, what happened to you four?" Grunkle Stan asked as they walked in, "Did you get hit by a bus?"

The four of them ignored him and went their separate ways but not before the old man stopped them.

"Uh, hey! Dipper's friends. What were your names again?"

"Lincoln."

"Lynn."

"Okay, okay, I got it. Anyway, w-wouldn't you know we're hiring for two more employees, so, uh... how's about applying. As a bonus, I'll let you take one item from the gift shop? On the house, y'know?

"What's the catch?" Lincoln asked.

"You get paid minimum wage, you work alongside with Dipper and Mabel's shifts and you don't tell the cops that I'm hiring a bunch of kids."

"I guess we can take it," Lincoln admitted, "I probably need the money."

"And I can tell our mum that we have summer jobs."

"So is that a yes?"

"I guess-"

"Then it's a deal!" Grunkle Stan said, "Now grab something before I change my mind. That includes you too Dipper and Mabel."

Everyone shrugged and started to look around, searching for the perfect item. Lynn was the first to grab her item, going outside briefly and coming back with the baseball bat that she used to hit the gnomes with. Dipper was the next to stash his item, seeing a bunch of new blue baseball hats with a pine tree printed on it. Smiling, he grabbed one and put it on his head.

Lincoln was hesitant on deciding between taking home a Swiss army knife that could fit his pocket or a small locket shaped like a megaphone. Lynn walked over to him.

"Pick the small locket," she suggested, "There's no way mum will let us keep a knife."

"Good point," Lincoln said. He quickly picked it up, and placed it in his pocket. Everyone turned to Mabel, waiting for her to pick a gift. She grinned, holding something behind her back.

"Guys and Lynn, take a good look at this!" Mabel held the object from her hands and held it high, "Grappling hook! Yes."

Everyone looked at her strangely, wondering why she would want one in the first place and why something like that was even in a gift shop.

"Wouldn't you like something like a doll?" Stan mumbled.

"Nope!" Mabel answered, firing it at the ceiling, pulling her up, "GRAPPLING HOOK!"

Lincoln internally fought with himself at that moment, struggling to keep his mouth shut from saying the perfect pun. But he failed anyways, "Wow, I guess she's really _hook_ -"

"Save the puns for when we get back home," Lynn thankfully interrupted before smiling, "I think we better start leaving before our other sisters start looking for us."

* * *

Lincoln sat on their bed reading his comic while Lynn was sitting on the other side, playing with a paddle-ball, tossing it in the air and catching it.

Lincoln turned to the audience, "When we arrived at Gravity Falls, I thought that this was going to be a boring summer. But when you battle a hundred or so gnomes side-by-side with your sister and your new friends, you start to realise, contrary to what the journal said, that they'll always have your back."

He turned back to Lynn, who was still busy playing with her paddle-ball.

"Mind if I turn off the lights?" Lincoln asked her sister.

"Nah," she responded, "I'm tired after that gigantic battle."

Lincoln smiled, flicking the light switch and slowly drifting himself to unconsciousness. If his first few days involved fighting a bunch of gnomes, who knew what other strange things were waiting for them to be discovered.

* * *

 **And that's all I have for now. Thanks for reading.**


	2. S01E02: Scuttlebutt Island

**Author's Note: I think I forgot to put this in the first chapter, so I'll put it in the second chapter. I don't own The Loud House or Gravity Falls. If I did, then let's say thankfully I don't own it.**

 **MadHat886: Oh don't worry, there will be more. And thanks. I'm planning to turn this Fanfic into a simple retelling of Gravity Falls with some canon differences and adding alternative ways on how the plot starts and/or ends. Of course, it might not be always the case. I've already got a basic outline on all 40 canon episodes.**

 **MilesW1998: Yeah me too :P . Although I will make some references to current things now and then (some even too niche for anyone to notice), I won't overload it and turn it into Family Guy or similar. The original series had a nice balance of referencing another medium while keeping it original and fresh.**

 **dfelfkselkr: Thanks, I'm also excited to post what happens next! Especially the rewrite of the Northwest Mystery episode (which is way too far for me to consider about it at this point of time). *evil grin*.**

 **Again, thanks for your comments and feedback.**

* * *

It was another morning in their Pop-Pop's place. In the household, most were still sleeping but the few that were awake, situated themselves in the kitchen, eating their breakfast in peace. Well, at least one of them was trying anyway. The oldest one, Lori, was sitting down, watching Lynn and Lincoln competing against each other with syrup bottles. Lori rolled her eyes, watching them hold the bottles upside-down, above their open mouths. She could only assume that they were having some sort of syrup race.

"Is this necessary you two?"

Lori asked this simple question, bemused at the situation as she kept on eating her cereal. She watched the competition from afar, looking at Lynn, who was currently winning so far. However in a moment of desperation, Lincoln tapped the top lightly, making the syrup travel down faster. Unsurprisingly, her only brother won but ended up accidentally choking a little, coughing some of the runny liquid out, not exactly anticipating how quickly the syrup went into his mouth.

"Can you two tell me what exactly the point of that was?" Lori repeated, not amused.

"Nothing, Lori," Lincoln responded with a smile, quickly wiping leftover residue from his face, "It's just for fun!"

"But that was so unfair!" Lynn complained, "I saw you cheat!"

"It's not like you were going to swallow it," Lincoln said, "You usually have egg for breakfast anyways. A raw egg."

"Don't judge me bro," Lynn defended her breakfast choices, "They're packed with protein! Besides, there's nothing wrong with having something unhealthy once in a while."

Lincoln warm-heartedly laughed and nodded at his sister's statement as he turned his attention back to the open magazine he had been flicking through before Lynn had challenged him to a syrup race.

He looked at the first page that laid in front of him, showing an advertisement for football tryouts and the next page showing a contest ad that grabbed Lincoln's attention.

"Ho ho, no way! Hey Lynn, check this out!" Lincoln exclaimed, pointing at the contest ad. Lynn smiled, looking at the football ad.

"There are soccer tryouts here in Gravity Falls? I can totally try for that!"

"I'm not driving you Lynn to that," stated Lori as she finished the last of her cereal, putting her empty bowl on the kitchen sink, and walked out of the room, messaging Bobby with her smartphone in her hand.

"I didn't even ask," Lynn grumbled, out of Lori's range, "I was gonna use my bike."

"No, no! I'm not talking about some silly football game," Lincoln interrupted, before pointing to the adjacent page, "I'm talking about this. We see weirder stuff like that every day! We didn't get any pictures of those gnomes, did we?"

Lynn sighed and shook her head with disappointment, "No. Just memories. And this baseball bat," Lynn got out her bat and proudly leant on it, shoving it in Lincoln's face. Lincoln brushed the wooden object away from his face.

Lincoln looked at her, "Why did you even get that?" he asked, confused.

Lynn was about to answer when their Pop-pop walked into the kitchen, dressed in an undershirt, boxers and slippers. He grabbed a clean bowl from the cupboard and the cereal box, pouring some of the contents in.

"Good morning youngsters," he greeted the two of them, in an upbeat voice. He took a bunch of mouthfuls of his breakfast, while pouring milk onto it, "Do you know what day it is?"

"Wednesday?" Lynn answered.

"Happy Anniversary?" Lincoln guessed.

Pop-Pop gently ruffled Lincoln and Lynn hair on the head, laughing at the answers they gave him.

"No silly. It's opening day of Fishing Season. We're spending the whole day out in the lake and having one of those, you know, bonding-type deals! What do you say?"

"We were actually planning on doing something else for the day," Lincoln admitted. Their Pop-Pop looked over to the magazine laid in front of the boy and smirked.

"Going off to a monster hunt instead?" he asked, "All right, maybe that seems more exciting for you young whip-snappers but I swear, you can do both at the same time! There's this local legend spread amongst the locals saying that a large sea monster lives under the lake!"

"Really?" Lincoln asked with enthusiasm.

Pop-pop laughed harder, "Of course not! It's just an urban myth, drummed up by sketchy con-men to make some cash. But you can still try!"

"Really?" Lincolns face lighted up.

"Yeah sure," he answered, "I don't want to spoil your fun as long as you come back later for some actual real hunting!"

The implied meaning of that flew over the two kids heads as they finished their cereal.

"Now who wants to wake up everyone and get into my van filled with candy?"

The two of them both immediately volunteered, running towards the bedrooms before Lincoln realized what their Pop-Pop said.

"Wait, what?" Lincoln asked in a shocked voice.

"That came out wrong didn't it?" Pop-Pop slapped himself in the face.

 ***Cue Gravity Falls Theme Song***

The van was driving along the dirt road in the forest, with everyone seated behind Lincoln's parents. As his dad was driving the van, leaning down occasionally to adjust the radio, Lincoln started to gobble up all the candy that their Pop-pop had left on their seats. Meanwhile, Lincoln and Lynn sat at the very back with Lisa squashed in the middle.

Lynn and Lisa silently judged their brother from the sides of where he was sitting, letting a small grunt of dissatisfaction every couple of seconds.

"I can't believe there's so much candy here," Lincoln exclaimed as he took a huge bite out of his Kit-Kat, oblivious to the stares he was receiving from his sisters sitting right beside him, "I don't know why both of you are not getting some!"

"It's just unhealthy," Lynn simple stated, refusing the chocolate treats, "If you eat too much, then you'll just because fat and lazy. So far you fit one of the criteria."

"That's coming from someone who challenged me earlier to put chocolate syrup in my mouth," Lincoln crossed his arms.

"Also, not to mention," Lisa overheard the conversation from the back and decided to side with Lynn, "It can cause a barrage of symptoms that can cause diabetes which is a life-crippl-"

"Okay I get it as well Lisa," Lincoln interrupted, "But you're not gonna stop me from eating them. It will just be more for me!"

Lincoln let out an ironic and over-exaggerated evil laugh, holding two candy bars up in the air and greedily placing them both in his mouth at the same time

"Your loss," Lisa simply grumbled.

Ten minutes later, the van reached their destination. As soon as their dad turned off the ignition, Everyone got out of the van, looking around to see where they were. They saw their Pop-Pop in front of them, holding a fishing rod, underneath a large sign reading ' _Fishing Season: Opening Day!_ '

"It's fishing season and you know what that means!" he announced happily.

"Fishing?" Lana asked, assuming that the answer was obvious, "I can just tell how much I'm gonna love this place!"

Pop-Pop nodded in response, "It was a tad too obvious I reckoned."

While the six year old tomboy could hardly contain her excitement, the rest of the Loud family groaned. Their Pop-Pop could sense their disappointment and lack of enthusiasm.

"Don't be like that! You're all gonna love it! The whole town's out there!" he smiled, showing the whole view of the lake.

Lincoln and his siblings looked at the residents of the town on their boats, most of them reeling in fishing rods, trying to catch a few fish. They saw a muscular lumberjack beating up a small fish with his sons chanting him on. They looked in another direction and saw some other townsfolk on the lake.

"Hey, I got an idea that will cheer you sad folks up!"said Pop-Pop, grinning. He pulled a fifty dollar note out of his vest and waved it in the air. He laughed as each of their eyes was locked on the bill.

"I noticed how much you love competing against each other so I'm making my own little challenge!" he offered, "Whoever catches the biggest fish, wins fifty dollars!"

"Me want!" Lana exclaimed.

"That's the spirit Lana!" Pop-Pop cheered, "Now let's buy fishing gear and catch us some lunch!"

As the other sisters cheered happily and followed Pop-Pop and Lana, Lynn and Lincoln still wanted to go on the monster hunt.

"I don't like fishing, but fifty dollars is fifty dollars," Lynn started to contemplate before snapping out of it, as a commotion by the deck started to take place with an crazy man who looked old enough to be placed in a retirement home. He was causing a scene as onlookers started to gather around him. Curiously, the duo joined the crowd and watched as the man was shouting at everyone, claiming something that sounded like it came out of a generic horror film.

"I SEEN IT! I SEEN IT AGAIN! The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker! Come quick before it scraps doodles away!" he shouted before doing a dance, slapping his knee.

"Is he dancing out of joy?" Lincoln asked confusingly.

"Nooo!" he said, grabbing his shoulders, "It's a jig of grave danger!"

"O-kay," Lincoln took a step back. The lake ranger came out and starts spraying the crazy old man with water.

"Hey, hey!" A man ran out of the bait shop with a spray bottle, spraying the older man with water, "Now what did I tell you about scaring my customers? This is your last warning, dad!"

"But I got proof this time, by guppity, BEHOLD!" the crazy man walked over to the end of the pier, pointing at a destroyed boat, "It's the Gobble-de-wonker what done did it! It had a long neck like a giraffe! And wrinkly skin like... like this gentleman right here!" he called pointing at Pop-Pop, who was nearby and joined on the other side of the crowd.

"Now that's just rude," he said in starkness to that comment.

"It chewed up my boat up to smithereens, and shim-shammed over to Scuttlebutt Island! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!"

A police boat was nearby, sailing towards and stopping at the dock. On it was two policemen, a fat stereotypical sheriff with dark skin and a thin Caucasian man, taller than his partner by several inches.

"Attention all units! We have ourselves a crazy old man!" the far sheriff joked, making fun of the old man. Everyone else laughed at him, prodding the old man to leave the area sadly.

As the crowd dispersed, Lincoln and Lynn reunited with Pop-Pop who had returned with a bag of bait and another bag full of fishing rods. They looked behind him, watching their other sisters paired up, carrying a small rowing boats and wooden oars sitting on top of it. Lincoln smiled, seeing Lily the youngest, enjoying the ride on the boat that Luna and Luan were carrying.

"What was that old crazy guy even rambling about?" Lynn and Lincoln could hear Lola asked, "He looks creepy."

"That's Old Man McGucket," their Pop-Pop exclaimed, "He's one of the insane folk that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley."

"He'll probably _crazy_ to meet you!" Luan added, laughing at her own pun. Her siblings groaned.

"Well, there's all our equipment," Pop-Pop declared, "Now let's drag our boats onto the water and out on that lake!"

Pop-Pop started getting on one of the rickety row boats, pushing it towards the lake.

"Wait, what about Lynn and Lincoln?" Lori pointed out, noticing that they didn't come with them.

"Oh don't worry about it," Pop-Pop ominously answered her question, "They'll catch up to us later. They're going to be hunting for something big."

He winked at the two of them, giving them the all clear to leave the group. They walked towards the bait shop and started to strategize on where to start searching.

"So Linc, where should we look first?" Lynn asked her brother, knowing that he almost always had a plan. However, with Lincoln, he concentrated on another recent event.

"Lynn, did you hear what that old dude said?" Lincoln whispered to Lynn, trying to not let the others townsfolk around him hear. She repeated the insult that he said to Pop-Pop, mimicking the crazy man.

"I meant the other thing! About the monster! If we can take a photo of it, we can split the prize fifty-fifty."

"I'm not sure," Lynn started to have second thoughts, "Shouldn't we tell our other sisters, let alone our Pops?"

Lincoln gasped at the very mention of that idea, "If we tell our sisters about it, then we'll only wind up with a hundred dollar bill each! Imagine what you could do with five hundred dollars! If we must, we can give our Pop-Pop $100."

"But how are we gonna do it with just a small rowing boat? Let alone go there. It will be night time by the time we get there!"

"I've got an idea," Lincoln's hypothetical light bulb popped into existence, as he saw someone familiar in the distance, setting sail.

* * *

Lincoln and Lynn walked over to Soos, who was in his own boat, cruising around the shallow ends of the lake.

"Hey Soos!" Lynn shouted, catching the man's attention. He turned the boat around and steered his boat towards a nearby dock.

"Sup dudes," Soos greeted them, lowering the sail and anchoring it to a nearby pole, "Are you fishing here as well?"

"Actually no," Lincoln frowned, showing him the open magazine, specifically the part with the monster hunter contest, "We're going to Scuttlebutt Island for this!"

"Aren't the football try-outs somewhere else?"

"No, read the next page," Lincoln facepalmed. Soos looked over to next page, understanding what he meant, nodding.

"We could win one thousand dollars just for taking a photo!" Lincoln continued, "Think about what we could all spend the money with."

Soos started to daydream, imagining himself buying an arcade machine for the Shack and wasting his time at work playing on it. Before Soos could dream any further, Lincoln snapped his giners, snapping him back into reality.

"We'll split it three ways equally," Lincoln declared, pointing at himself, Lynn and Soos respectively, "That's fair right?"

"I guess so," Lynn agreed, "$300 is still a lot of money."

"Yeah, sounds good to me dudes," Soos also agreed. He opened the doors to the boat, welcoming them in their ship, "Come on in guys!"

"Let's sail off!" Lincoln exclaimed, once her sister jumped on, "Hoist the anchor!"

Soos hurried to where the anchor was but before he even pulled it out, Soos overheard two particular twins approaching, alongside their uncle.

"Monster hunt! Monster hunt! Monster hunt!" their chanting voices got nearer. He recognizes their voices belonging to Dipper and Mabel.

"You dudes say somethin' about a monster hunt?" Soos made his presence known, letting out a horn in the process. The twins turned around to see Soos pulled up to the docks in his boat.

"Soos!" Mabel said. Soos and Mabel did a fist bump, making explosion noises.

"Dudes, you can totally use my boat for your hunt," he volunteered, "It's got a steering wheel, chairs, normal boat stuff. Plus Lincoln and Lynn are coming!"

Lincoln tried to hint and nudge Soos to just take off but it seemed like he wasn't getting it or was just ignoring him.

"All right, all right, let's think this through," Grunkle Stan said, "You kids could go waste your time on some 'epic' monster-finding adventure with your friends, or you could spend the day learning how to tie knots and skewer worms with your Great Uncle Stan!"

The twins looked at each other then at Soos, before glancing at Stan. They scampered onto Soos's boat and drove off toward Scuttlebutt Island as Stan became saddened.

"We made the right choice!" Mabel called.

"Yay..." Lincoln said less enthusiastically.

* * *

Dipper sat leaning against a small shelter atop the boat, looking back at Stan, all alone in his dingy boat. He couldn't help but feel a little guilt in the back of his mind, like it was nagging him to go back to him. Looking at the excited, grinning faces around him; he ignored his thoughts and laughed along with them.

As the boat drifted further from the docks, Dipper walked towards Lincoln who was looking around the lake from the edges of the boat, watching the various townspeople trying to fish.

"So, you're here for the monster competition too huh?" Dipper asked Lincoln. He nodded in response.

"Yeah, but now there's like five of us and we'll need to split it into an even smaller amount," Lincoln complained, passive-aggressively. As much as he liked having Dipper around for company, today was one of the days where he would just be somewhere else. Of course, it was only a minor inconvenience to him, but he still semi-hid this fact to him.

"That's okay!" Mabel exclaimed, putting both of her arms around Dipper and Lincoln's shoulders, "It just means that we'll find it easily! Isn't that right?"

"Yeah," Lynn joined in, "We'll still have an epic adventure!"

"Yep," Lincoln said unsure.

Dipper paced on the boat in front of Soos and the others, making them line up and face him.

"Alright!" he proclaimed, "If we want to win this contest, we have to do it right! Think; what's the number one problem with monster hunts?"

"You're a side character, and you die within the first five minutes of the movie," Soos answered, thinking about it. Panic started to fill his eyes, "Dudes... am I a side character? Do you ever think about stuff like that?"

"Anyone else like to take a guess?"

Lincoln spoke up next, "Someone suggests splitting up and as a result, everyone dies one by one?"

"Lynn, Mabel, any ideas?"

Mabel shrugged but Lynn wanted to have a go at it. She grinned evilly.

"When the heroine is about to escape from the serial killer with a hockey mask but just before she gets away, she trips over and gets brutally murdered by his chainsaw!" Lynn added her own thoughts.

"Those are all horror movie clichés everybody! Man, what is up with everyone and death? What I really meant was camera trouble!" Dipper explained with annoyance, "Say Bigfoot shows up. Soos, be Bigfoot."

Soos turned to pose as if he were a creature caught in the middle of walking.

"There he is! Bigfoot!" Dipper pretended to scream out, in a sarcastic surprised voice, "Uh, oh! No camera! Oh, wait, here's one! Aw, no film!

"You see? You see what I'm doing here?" Dipper returned to his normal voice.

"You've got a point there bro!" Mabel exclaimed.

"That's why I brought _seventeen_ disposable cameras; two in my ankles, three in my jacket, two for each of you, three extras in this bag, and one under my hat. There's no way we're gonna miss this!" Dipper proclaimed, grinning at his own genius, "Okay everybody, let's test our cameras out!"

Soos tested his camera by taking a selfie. He looked at the camera and pressed the shutter button. It flash startled his eyes, causing him to accidently throw his camera in the lake, "Oops, sorry dude."

"No worries," Dipper assured him with a grin, "This is why we need backup cameras, we still got sixteen left."

A bird swooped by and grabbed one of Mabel's cameras from her hands, "AH PELICAN!"

As a reflex, Lynn threw one of her own cameras, hitting the bird, striking it down back into the water, along with the cameras, "Bullseye!"

Meanwhile, Lincoln tried really hard to take a sample picture but as he did, he pressed too hard and lost his grip, shattering it on the floor.

Dipper mentally counted the number of cameras they lost already. Dipper groaned as a result, realizing that they lost four cameras already and were now down to thirteen.

"Okay, let's actually try not to lose our cameras," Dipper said nervously.

"Wait, did you say lose the cameras?"

"What no! Don't lose them!" Dipper repeated, aggravated.

"Sorry dude, I just threw my other camera away," Soos told him, pointing at the lake with the submerged camera. Dipper was trying to keep his cool.

"Not to worry," he said through clenched teeth, "We still have twel-"

He was cut off by the sound of a small crackling sound. He looked below him and saw that he had accidently stepped on one of the cameras.

"Eleven, we have eleven now," Dipper's left eye winced

"Hey, that was mine!" Lynn yelled at Dipper.

"Lynn, I am so sorry!"

"Now I have zero on me now," Lynn complained.

"Same here dude," Soos added on.

"Don't worry Dipper," Lincoln said, carelessly throwing his other one out onto the lake, "I brought my sister's brand new video recorder! This is better than all your cheap disposable cameras."

"Firstly, you could've given it to me! Secondly, they were not _cheap_ at all!" Dipper said angrily, red fumes out of his face.

Lincoln put his arm around Dipper with a relaxed attitude, "Trust me, this video camera is better than the one we used to stalk Mabel's ex boyfriends."

"Please don't say it like that."

Lincoln ignored Dipper's comment, "It even has a touch screen! There is no way this can go wrong now."

He grabbed Luan's video recorder and pressed the power button. Its screen turned on with a bright light, showing a password screen, "Dang it. I forgot to ask Luan for the password."

"On the bright side, it has a headphone jack," Lynn commented, noting the entirely useless feature, before changing the topic, "Well almost all of us are out of cameras."

"Can you just give one each from the backup bag?" Lincoln pleaded, "We promise we won't lose them!"

"Fine! But as long as I'm in charge around here," Dipper stated, handing Soos, Lynn and Lincoln a camera each, "Okay, Mabel and Lynn, you'll be lookout. Lincoln, you'll be our navigator. Soos, you work the steering wheel, and obviously I'll be captain."

"Can I be co-captain instead?" Mabel requested.

"I'm pretty sure co-captain doesn't exist," Dipper deadpanned, crossing his arms. Mabel smile stealthily turned into a naughty smirk.

"Hey bro, Lynn is smashing her own camera again behind you!"

Dipper looked around, giving Mabel the opportunity to grab one of the cameras from his ankles. As soon as he realized that his sister had tricked him, it was too late as Mabel threw the ankle camera overboard, into the lake.

"Whoops!" Mabel faked surprise, "It totally slipped. If only I was co-captain..."

"Okay! Fine! You can be co-captain!" Dipper cried out, fully aware that she can trick him again into losing even more, "Just stop destroying the cameras! We're down to nine cameras already in the last few minutes!"

"Yay!" Mabel cheered, grabbing the other cameras from Dipper's ankle.

"Can I be associate co-captain?" Soos asked.

"As co-captain, I authorize that request," Mabel replied.

"And as first captain, I suggest we focus on our mission," Dipper commanded with a loud voice, prompting everyone to pay attention to him, "Our first order of business is to lure the monster out with this."

Dipper pointed to the barrel of fish food that was at the back of the boat.

"Permission to taste this?" Soos interrupted him as he looked at the barrel with hunger. Dipper and Mabel exchanged looks with each other.

"Captain granted," Dipper said with a small grin.

"As co-captain, I also grant permission," Mabel said as she pointed towards the air. She started to egg on Soos to try the fish as soon enough, everyone else was egging him on. Satisfied, Soos took some of the fish food and tasted it.

Before they knew it, Soos had begun to spit the food out and drink as much water as he could to get the taste out. Dipper, Mabel, Lincoln and Lynn instantly began to laugh as much as they could.

"Man, I didn't know fish food tasted so terrible," Soos said as he started to laugh as well.

"That's why it's called fish food and not human food," Lynn chuckled a bit.

* * *

Half an hour later, the boat was finally close to the seashore of the island, evident by the thin layer of fog that had surrounded them. While Lincoln started to light up the lanterns to help illuminate the area around them, Soos was steering the boat trying to avoid anything floating in the water and Lynn was shovelling fish food off to the back of the boat. It didn't take long for Lincoln to finish lighting up the last of the lanterns, before he started to walk towards Mabel, who was busy playing with a pelican, pretending to be a ventriloquist much to the dismay of her brother.

"Hey! How it's going everyone?" Lincoln asked the twins.

"I'm alright," Dipper was the first to respond.

Mabel moved the pelican's mouth like a puppet as she voiced for it, "It's going awesome. Bow bow ba- bow bow!"

Dipper strained to see her through the fog, and frowned at her antics.

"Mabel leave that thing alone!" Dipper told his sister off, "I don't want to lose another camera!"

"Lighten up Dipper," Lincoln chuckled, a grin forming on his face, "She's just having a little fun."

"Yeah, we're just playin'," added Mabel through the pelican, "Hey look! I'm drinking water!"

She grabbed an unopened water bottle and drank from it, while attempting to do the pelican voice like a ventriloquist, "Twinkle, twinkle, little-" she choked and sputtered on the water, making the pelican fly away.

"Aren't you two supposed to be doing lookout?" Dipper asked the both of them.

"LOOK OUT!"

A soccer ball was tossed at Dipper at full force, not giving him enough time to dodge it. He yelped in shock and surprise as it made an impact on his left shoulder, bouncing back onto the deck.

"Who threw that?" Dipper whined.

"My bad," Lynn admitted. She picked up the ball, playing with it and performing various small tricks with it, using her feet.

"That hurt!" Dipper complained, "At least warn me about it."

"I did, when I said 'look out'," Lynn defended herself, explaining her actions.

"I mean, warn me when I have enough time," the boy in the cap groaned, "Anyway, aren't you supposed to be scooping fish food?"

Lynn shrugged, "We ran out."

Suddenly, the boat crashed into something and shuddered to an abrupt stop, jolting everyone on board and cutting off the light at the helm, indicating that they have reached the island.

"We're here!" Mabel exclaimed almost immediately, being the first to get up. She helped her friend Lincoln up onto his feet nearby, "See? We're lookout geniuses!"

As everybody got off the boat one by one, getting their feet on the shoreline, Dipper and Lynn grabbed some lanterns. Once they were certain that they carried enough, they both jumped off the boat together.

Everyone on the shore each grabbed a lantern and began walking around the area, searching around the foggy trees for any sign of the monster. It was hard to see the island from afar when they were on the boat but now it was even more difficult to see anything at all thanks to the thickening fog. It was only the lanterns that each of them was holding that provided them with the limited vision they had. They eventually make it to a sign showing the name of the island.

"Dudse, check it out," Soos said. Mabel and the others turned around and saw him covering the 'Scuttle' in the sign saying 'Scuttlebutt Island'.

Mabel and Lincoln both laughed at what they read on the sign, "Soos, you rapscallion!"

Lynn chuckled a little, "Seriously? It feels like they just named it so they can made fun of it," Lynn commented.

Mabel became confused when she noticed that Dipper wasn't enjoying the moment, neither laughing nor smiling at the exchange. She walked over to her brother, "Hey, why aren't you laughing? Are you scared?"

"Pssh! Yeah right," Dipper scoffed, his tone carrying a smidge of doubt, "I'm not-"

"Yeah, you are!" Mabel proclaimed. With a teasing grin, she poked her brother in the nose and blew a raspberry, before tickling him with an assault of playful pokes.

"Hey!" Dipper exclaimed in protest, trying his best to keep his serious tone while blocking her pokes, though failing as he fell on the ground, in a fit of laughter.

Mistaking it as a wrestling match, Lynn watched Dipper trying to get up as she counted up to three, slowly.

"Game set!" Lynn yelled, grabbing Mabel's hand and holding it in the air, "Mabel wins the match!"

"I won!" Mabel exclaimed, celebrating her win before noticing that she didn't know what she was celebrating, "Wait. What did I win?"

"Nothing," Lincoln deadpanned, turning serious, "Guys! Let's focus now! One thousand dollars is at stake here!"

"Don't be a killjoy Linc," Lynn groaned, crossing her arms at her brother. Mabel nodded but in a more understanding way.

"Lincoln is right," Dipper agreed, getting back on his feet, "Let's just take a picture of the monster and get out of here!"

With Dipper leading the way with his lantern, everyone continued walking down the dirt path for a while in silence. The few minutes of silence was unsettling for some but it was what they needed to stay focused. As they continued walking, an eerie growl from afar interrupted the quietness, startling them. The kids and Soos stopped in their path and looked around them nervously, trying to find the source of the noise.

"Did you guys hear that?" Lynn asked the others, exchanging nods with everyone, "It sounded like it was ahead of us."

They slowly walked forwards, in the direction from where they heard the noise coming from, the same growl getting louder and deeper as they kept on pushing forwards. Eventually, one of them spotted a large shadow of the creature, positioned in a threatening pose. Pointing it out to the others, they all agreed to quickly hide behind a nearby log, waiting for further instructions from Dipper.

"Get your cameras ready, and wait for my signal," Dipper whispered to the others. He waited for a few seconds for his friends to get ready before silently counting down from three using his fingers.

"NOW!" Lincoln yelled before Dipper could finish his countdown, making everyone else follow him, frantically taking photos of the creature. Unfortunately, as they got closer to it, all they saw was a wrecked boat with a few beavers sitting on it, coincidently forming the same shape that they saw in the shadows a few seconds prior.

"But... but what was that noise, then? I heard a monster noise!" Dipper said in disbelief.

The noise resonated again causing everyone to look around.

"Hey Dipper, I think this was making the noise," Lynn said, pointing.

They all looked at where she was pointing, seeing a beaver chewing on a rusty old chainsaw, making the same sound whenever it bit on the power switch.

"Sweet," Soos exclaimed, taking a photo of it, "Beaver with a chainsaw."

Dipper lowered his head in disappointment.

"Maybe that old guy was crazy after all," Dipper sighed feeling dismayed. They went all this way for nothing and the twins had abandoned their Grunkle Stan who was probably not having the best time being alone. Similarly, Lincoln and Lynn also felt bad for not telling their other sisters about what they were actually doing, although the guilt wasn't as much as Dipper or Mabel.

"Let's just go back," Lincoln suggested, feeling heavy with disappointment, "It was all just a waste."

A sudden crash made the four of them jump in fear. Lincoln was the first to look up, seeing a silvery-blue dragon head leering down at him, glaring red eyes staring back at him, its greenish-blue tail swinging madly in fury. Soon enough, each of them turned around, facing the monster with equally as shocked expressions. The boy took out his camera quickly, trying to press the shutter button, before unintentionally dropping it again, after pressing too hard.

"I swear Dipper rigged these cameras," Lincoln mumbled to himself before sprinting away. The rest of them looked back at Lincoln and followed him, choosing to run for their lives, ditching the opportunity to take any pictures. Only Dipper was left standing, with an unamused face.

"Seriously? It's not that hard, guys!" said Dipper, clearly unaware of how big the monster really was behind him, "All you gotta do is point and shoot!"

"Forget about the money, just run!" Lynn yelled over at the distance, her voice getting further and further away.

"I didn't come here for nothing!" Dipper declared. He turned around and immediately took a photo of it, before immediately dropping it after encountering the creature face to face so closely.

"DIPPER RUN!" an imaginary version of Lynn told him in his brain which he obeyed instantly.

The monster chased their four, as they were sprinting for their life. As Lincoln was running away, he accidentally let go of his camera, tripping over it and falling onto the dirt. He scraped his right knee, groaning in pain. Dipper overtook him and grabbed the camera, leaving his friend behind. Lincoln eventually got up but was noticeably slower.

"Everybody; get back to the boat!" Lynn yelled to everyone before she glared at Dipper, "Seriously? You'd rather secure a freaking photo rather than help one of your only friends?"

She ran back a bit to pick Lincoln up, giving him a forced piggyback on her back, lagging behind by a few metres after tripping.

"Thanks Lynn," Lincoln thanked as he locked his hands to get a firm grip.

"No problem bro!" Lynn panted, as she somewhat sprinted to the boat.

Understandably, the two Loud siblings were the last to get on, and almost immediately after, Soos took control of the wheel and drove the boat away from the monster. As he took control of the ship in an attempt to get away from the creature chasing them, Dipper tried to get a photo before stopping, realising that his last camera has a broken lens. What was even worse was him seeing Lynn throwing away the disposable cameras that Dipper gave to everyone, hoping to keep it the monster at bay.

"What are you doing?" Dipper shouted at Lynn.

"Oh I'm sorry," Lynn sarcastically murmured, "Would you rather have us all killed?"

"Guys, shut up for a minute!" Lincoln yelled at everyone, "We need to work together!"

The white-haired boy barked orders, "Soos, drive faster! Dipper, check the journal for anything that might help us. Lynn, keep throwing those cameras!"

"And?"

Lincoln looked at Mabel who was smiling giddily, expecting Lincoln to give her a very hard task, "Mabel... just help me lookout for anything we might crash into."

"Okay sir!" Mabel smiled. Lincoln couldn't help but smile back for a moment before he and Mabel focused back on their mission.

It was probably the volume in Lincoln's voice (or perhaps the urgency of the situation) but immediately, everyone started to do their assigned jobs. Soos pulled the motor hard, zooming even faster away from the monster. Dipper was frantically searching for the pages, flicking them rapidly and skimming through the text. Lynn threw away the remaining cameras, which miraculously slowed down the monster chasing them. They finally made their way out of the fog but unfortunately, it was still chasing them. They had a bigger problem on their own as new obstacles opened themselves up on the clear air, floating, around the surroundings of the lake.

"SOOS! BEAVERS!" Mabel shouted. She spotted a big but unfinished dam made of sticks blocking their path. On top of it was a bunch of beavers, happily building on top of it. Soos got the message and tried to steer out of the way but unfortunately, unavoidably crashed into the dam, sending the many beavers up in the air and onto the boat, attacking the ship and everyone on board.

Even though the boat was at its maximum speed, the lake monster was still gradually closing the distance between them, forcing them into a dead end right where a flowing waterfall was situated.

There was hope though. After a few long seconds of being chased, Dipper's eyes focused on something that might save them. He just wasn't sure if anyone would believe him.

"In there!" he shouted, pointing to the waterfall, "I think there might be a cave behind there!"

"Might be?" Lynn shouted.

"We have no choice!" Lincoln screamed, "Just go!"

The four kids gulped as Soos steered straight into the waterfall. They all shut their eyes and screamed as they approached the waterfall, awaiting the end. To their surprise, they opened their eyes, now inside the mouth of the secret cave hidden by the waterfall.

"It's stuck!" Mabel cheered.

"Ha ha! Yeah! Wait...It's stuck?" Dipper questioned in disbelief. He turned his back and looked at the monster struggling and trashing about, trying to get free.

Mabel lifted up Dipper's hat to reveal a camera. He grabbed it excitedly as he began to take photos of the monster.

"Did you get a good one?" Lincoln asked kindly, as his knee was being tended to by his sister.

"They're all good ones!" Dipper cheered, "High-fives for everyone!"

The kids slapped Dipper's hands as his sister leaped joyfully and everyone else cheered loudly.

Dipper took photos and videos of the monster as it continued to roar and grumble. It wasn't until a loose piece of stone fell from the top of the cave, causing a metallic sound to echo through the cave. He climbed down the hill they were standing on and touched the skin with the back of his hand.

"What's wrong?" Mabel asked. Dipper ignored her and climbed further up the monster.

"Careful dude!" Soos called out.

"I've got this! Hold on!" Dipper called back, acknowledging his concern. Eventually when he reached the other side he yelled, "Everyone! Check this out!"

They all walked over to see a hatch. They opened the hatch revealing that the monster was just a metallic terror, controlled by the crazy old man from earlier.

"Work the bellows and the...Eh?" He looks up and sees them, "Aww, banjo polish!"

"Wai- Yo- You?! You created this?" Lincoln was the first to ask the woman, shocked that it was him "B-b-but why?"

"Yeah, why'd you do it?" Mabel added on, staring at the man.

"I just only wanted attention!" Old Man McGucket exclaimed, his head hanging low.

"I don't get it,"

McGucket explained the process, "Well, first I just hootenannied up a biomechanical brain wave generator, and then I learned to operate a stick-shift with my beard!"

"I honestly didn't understand a single word you just said," Lynn admitted to him.

Lincoln grew a little frustrated, "We sorta kinda get how you built it but we want to know why you did it."

"Well, when you get to be an old guy like me, nobody pays any attention to you anymore," McGucket explained, "My own son hasn't visited me in months! So I figured maybe I'd catch his fancy with a fifteen ton aquatic robot!"

She started to laugh maniacally, "But in retrospect, it seems a bit contrived. You just don't know the length us old-timers go through for a little quality time with our family."

The truth was, they all had a similar situation that they avoided today, although some were feeling more of the guilt than others. In particular, Dipper and Mabel started to feel a bit sad about abandoning his Grunkle Stan in the first place over a monster that turned out to be just a robot. And for what? $200 after dividing the prize money with the others.

Dipper sighed, fully aware that he just wasted the last few hours,"Well so much for the photo contest."

"We still got one roll of film left," Mabel pointed out, "Whaddaya wanna do with it?"

"I may have an idea..." Lynn suggested, before discussing her idea.

* * *

The five of them drove back to the lake where they saw Dipper and Mabel's Grunkle Stan fishing with Lincoln and Lynn's Pop-Pop, while talking to each other. In the middle of them was Lana, who was enjoying herself a lot, fishing and patiently waiting for her hook to bite and Luan who was listening to their conversations.

"And then, there was the time when..." a flash of a camera interrupted the two old men's chat.

"Over here!" Dipper said, driving by on the beat-up boat. Everyone looked at them.

"What the... kids? I thought you were off playing Spin the Bottle or something!" Stan said while looking at the boat up and down.

"Hi Lynn and Linc!" Luan greeted cheerily, "And who are your friends?"

"I'm Dipper and this is Mabel," he introduced, worn out. He turned back to Lincoln, "I thought you said you had a lot more sisters."

"I do," Lincoln replied, "But I don't know where they are."

"They all left to do other things after they _trout_ Lana was gonna win."

"Ha, you're funny!" Mabel laughed, not noticing how almost everyone else was groaning, "I like you already!"

Lincoln got out the video recorder that he brought, "You know the password to this?"

Lynn chuckled, "It's one-two-one-six."

Lincoln grew embarrassed, "Whoops, I forgot how obvious that was."

"It's okay Linc," Luan replied, "It's _no fin_."

"She said another pun again!" Mabel exclaimed, laughing even harder. Pop-Pop ignored the laughs and asked his own questions.

"So why did you come back so early? Why is the boat so damaged? Are you hurt?" Pop-Pop asked in quick succession, rushing to the edge of the boat to see both pairs of siblings still smiling.

"Relax, Mr. Loud, we're all fine," Soos tried to reassure the man.

"Call me Albert. What happened to your shirt?" Pop-Pop asked.

Soos shrugged, "It's a long story, dude."

"Basically, we were searching, trying to find some legendary monster," Dipper began, before frowning.

"But we realized that we should've hung out with the only dinosaur that really mattered," Mabel followed as she motioned to Grunkle Stan with a warm smile.

"I don't follow," Lynn said, the hint passing over her head.

"She meant Grunkle Stan," Dipper deadpanned.

"Save your sympathy!" Stan said as he stubbornly crossed his arms, "I've been having a great time without you! Makin' friends, talking with them... I even caught a really good fish with their help!"

"C'mon Stan," Pop-Pop nudged, "Give them a chance, they're only kids."

"So I guess there isn't room in these boats for five more?" Dipper asked, "And Soos' ship is kinda sinking."

Grunkle Stan glared at the twins, but his expression changed when they put their homemade hats on. Embroidered on them were the twins' names albeit crudely, as Dipper's name was shortened to Dippy and Mabel's name was shortened to Mabe.

"They look so cute on you two!" Lynn teased. Mabel took that as a compliment, smiling warmly at him while Dipper groaned, taking it more as an insult.

"Don't push it," Dipper mouthed to Lynn.

Their Grunkle smiled, "Sure, why not! The more we have the better!"

"You know there's still a few more hours til sunset," Pop-Pop mentioned, "You can still try and win fifty dollars if you catch a bigger fish than Lana!"

"Even though there's absolutely no way you're gonna catch us a bigger fish than mine!" Lana boasted proudly, showing off her decently sized bass.

"Five bucks says I can catch bigger!" Dipper challenged as he hopped onto Stan's boat.

"You're on Dippy!"

Dipper mumbled a groan.

"Five more bucks says that I beat both of you!" Lincoln added, raising the stakes even higher. He hopped onto his Pop-Pop's boat and started to grab a spare fishing rod.

"I like those odds!" Lana smirked, daringly striking the deal with the two boys.

Before Lincoln started to fish, he looked over to the viewers, breaking the fourth wall, "At the start, I thought that we were chasing what seemed like money but in the end, we ended up avoiding what mattered most; family."

"Hey Lincoln," Dipper called out, "You finished monologuing?"

"Yeah, are you ready Dipper?" Lincoln asked his friend.

"Yep. Okay, everyone gather up..." Dipper called, holding the camera. He put it on timer mode and placed it on the top of Soos's boat, which was halfway there to slowly being submerged in water, "Say fishing!"

"Fishing!" everyone shouted as the photo was taken.

* * *

 **The standard length for each chapter will be around 7,500 words btw. Sometimes more and sometimes less.**


	3. S01E03: Investigation OverHead

**Author's notes will primarily be at the bottom.**

 **gamelover41592: Yeah, I also agree it's an awesome fanfic so thanks. The problem is the 'update soon' bit because I'm such a procrastinator (also IRL stuff but mostly procrastinating) :P**

 **Thunderstrike16: Yeah, I didn't want to copy you or TvFan2244 so I went with something different. Of course, I do plan on having the other nine sisters meet Dipper and Mabel in some episodes, although they won't be a main part of the storyline. Also, speaking of those sisters, one of them may or may not work against the core four of the story in a later chapter.**

 **19: While your headhunters idea won't happen, one of your ideas have already been added/confirmed to be in. But which one? HAHAHAHAHA You have to find then!**

 **I don't own Loud House, Gravity Falls, Wax Stan's head and a fidget spinner.**

* * *

A few days had passed since the Gobblewonker incident, and surprisingly, things had been relatively smooth for the short run. Recently, the kids hadn't encountered any supernatural creatures or objects and it was something that calmed everyone's minds. Of course, as a result, everyone's schedules went back to usual for the most part.

Today started out on a Saturday, almost similarly like any other normal start of a weekend. It was late morning, and Lincoln and Lynn were riding their bicycles to the Mystery Shack to hang out with their friends Dipper and Mabel. Because it was the weekend, the four kids, including Lincoln and Lynn, were allowed to take the preceding two days off, but they still decided to visit them because they enjoyed the company of Dipper and Mabel, who were both near their age and were not related to them at all.

The two siblings finally made it to the Mystery Shack where they parked their bicycles. They walked up the front porch, making their way towards the wooden front door. Lincoln knocked on the door, before patiently waiting for someone to answer. For a few seconds, Lincoln and Lynn could hear footsteps coming closer before the door opened inwards. In front of them stood Mabel, wearing a turquoise sweater with a strawberry design on the front of it.

"Hi Lincoln! Hi Lynn!" Mabel greeted the two enthusiastically.

"Hey Mabel," Lincoln replied back, "How are you?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm not good," Mabel said, frowning a bit before immediately reverting back to her cheerful state, "I'm amazing!"

Lynn laughed a little, "It's great to see you again."

"So where's your brother?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh," Mabel sighed, looking over her shoulder, "He's just busy watching television."

Mabel smiled and swung the door wide open, signalling the two to come in, "We got leftover waffles in the kitchen if you're both hungry!"

Lincoln and Lynn stepped inside the Shack and entered the living room where they saw Dipper sitting down on the ground with his legs open and a bucket of popcorn situated on the right side of him. They eventually got themselves comfy, and after only a few minutes, the four kids were in the living room together, hanging out in the room and watching Saturday morning cartoons on the television. However, as time passed by, Lincoln was having a tough time watching and enjoying a particular program.

"So it's about a duck that solves crimes in London?" asked Lincoln, who was lying down on his front side next to Dipper, watching that show he heard the Pines twins often reference during their conversations, "It sounds so boring! You guys seriously prefer _Duck-tective_ over _ARGGH!_?"

"Well duh!" Lynn instantly answered with a brief comment. She kept doing her pushups next to Mabel, noting the dialogue to the previous show that aired before, "It's just so cheesy. I can't watch two minutes of it without cringing."

"Also, the effects are clearly fake," Dipper added on, "It was so obvious that the ghost haunting the bakery was CGI."

Dipper grabbed some popcorn from the half-empty bowl before passing the bowl over to Lincoln.

"But the show is all about supernatural things!" Lincoln tried to defend himself, appalled at everyone insulting his favourite show, "It's just like the journal! C'mon Mabel, back me up here!"

"Sorry Linky," Mabel shrugged, agreeing with everyone else. A teasing grin also formed on her face, as she discovered a new nickname to call him. The boy in particular shuddered at the mention of said nickname, "But Ducktective is a far better show than _Ahhhhh_! The duck is so smart!"

Mabel went back to knitting her new sweater while Lynn kept repeating her pushups. However, Dipper and Lincoln were eating from a bowl of popcorn, one paying close attention to the television screen.

"I'm afraid your services won't be required here, sir. My men have examined the evidence, and this is obviously an accident," a policeman on the TV screen said, talking towards the titular duck who was investigating the crime scene.

Duck-tective began quacking, subtitles showing up at the bottom of the screen, "Accident, constable? Or is it… murder!?"

"What?!" exclaimed the constable before the television transitioned into a commercial break.

As the episode came to a close, Mabel let out a burst of excitement through a sudden gasp that echoed shortly across the room, "That duck is a genius!"

Lincoln rolled his eyes at Mabel, unamused by her antics, "It's a freaking duck! All it did for the last twenty minutes was follow a person around and quack!"

"I'd say that you're taking this way too seriously Lincoln," Dipper commented, as he grabbed another handful of popcorn, "It's just a cartoon."

Lincoln crossed his arms and complained; "Even I can do better than that stupid duck though," his voice was filled with annoyance.

Mabel stopped knitting and put her unfinished sweater beside and looked at Lincoln straight into his eyes in disbelief.

"Are you saying that you could outwit Duck-tective?" Mabel challenged.

"Of course I can and for two reasons," Lincoln explained, "Firstly, he's a duck. Obviously of course. Secondly, I've been able to solve mysteries back where I live."

"You wanna turn this in a bet?" Mabel offered, waving the white-haired boy a ten dollar bill. Lincoln had his hands on his hips, feeling like he was being taunted. Everyone knew what was going to happen next.

"You're on!" Lincoln accepted briskly. They stared into each other's eyes, determination seeping through the both of them, before the moment was broken by footsteps across from the living room doorway. The kids quickly stopped what they were doing as Soos started running in with a broom!

"Hey, dudes! You'll never guess what I found!" Soos said excitedly across. He walked into the living room and grabbed the last bits of popcorn from the bowl. As he chewed, Soos listened in on the guesses that each of the four kids was trying to make.

"Buried treasure?" Dipper exclaimed.

"A signed baseball bat from Babe Ruth?" Lynn asked.

"Something actually worth my time?" Lincoln deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

"Buried treasure?"

"I just said that Mabel," Dipper groaned.

Everyone left the room and followed Soos through a dusty hallway until they reached a rusted door at the end.

"So I was cleaning up when I found this secret door, hidden behind this wallpaper. It's crazy bonkers creepy!" Soos said as he opened the door, creaking ominously in the process.

The insides of the room were darkened, only being dimly brightened by a small window near the end, illuminating the daylight outside. With curiosity, Dipper turned on a flashlight, and the kids peered inside where they saw sinister-looking wax figures that filled the whole room.

"What is this place?" Lynn asked, shivering in discomfort, "They're creeping me out a little."

"Hey guys! It's a secret wax museum!" Dipper exclaimed as he walked around the room with his flashlight, shining the light around on different statues amongst the darkness of the room. Lincoln closely followed him, recognising a few of the sculptures such as Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes and Genghis Khan. Admittedly, the wax figures made him a little bit uncomfortable, but he couldn't figure out why. Dipper continued examining the figures until he felt a finger tap him on the shoulder, causing him to jump a little and let out a small scream. He speedily turned around, shining his light.

"Dipper, it's just me," Lynn chuckled, the light shining on her. Dipper groaned in response.

"Mabel, are you oka-" Lincoln turned his head towards the source of the sound, "Oh wait, it's just Dipper."

"Ha ha."

"Wow! You gotta feel them guys!" Mabel giggled, rubbing her hand on a sculpture of Nicholas Cage, "They're so life-like!"

"Except for that one," Lynn pointed towards a particularly creepy one, poking her finger at it.

"Hey!" The creepy statue greeted, twitching at the touch of her finger. Unfortunately, it had an unintended effect of making the kids scream. The 'statue' snickered in response, "It's just me, Grunkle Stan!"

Instead of relieving the kids from fear and panic, they screamed harder to a confused Stan Pines. They tried to back out and run, but they all tripped over each other, much to their dismay.

 _ ***Cue Gravity Falls Theme Song***_

It took a while for Stan to calm everyone down from the initial terror, and the four soon returned back to their senses to hear what their Grunkle Stan had to say.

"Behold the Gravity Falls Wax Museum! It was one of our most popular attractions... before I forgot all about it."

"Did it not make enough money for you as always?" Dipper cynically questioned. Stan paused for a second and gave him a stern look.

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that," Stan answered, before resuming, pointing at the statues, "I used to have them all! Genghis Khan, Sherlock Holmes, some kind of, um, goblin man thing?"

Lincoln gazed at the wax figures in admiration, impressed with the detail that was present on the outsides, "It's really impressive Mr Pines. It must've taken a long time to make."

"Yeah," Stan mumbled, slightly changing the subject quickly, "I also have one of my personal favourites: Wax Abraham Lincoln!"

"My favourite president!" the white-haired boy exclaimed.

Stan turned around with excitement only to see a melted Lincoln on the floor, as a wax puddle. Right above it, the only window in the room was shining directly above it.

"Oh! Oh no! Who left the blinds open? I'm looking in your direction John Wilkes Booth! Now what will I do without Lincoln?"

"I don't know, create another one," Lynn suggested.

Stan brushed that idea off quickly, "I don't have the time for that. I'm too busy running the Mystery Shack as it is!"

"Cheer up, Grunkle Stan. Where's that smile?" Mabel asked him.

"Ugh," he muttered.

"We can just make you a new Lincoln for you Grunkle Stan!" Mabel suggested as she grinned with captivating eyes, "You don't need to worry no more, right Lincoln?"

Lincoln Loud paused for a moment.

"I am so confused with which Lincoln you're referring to," Lincoln admitted to Mabel, "Why not we just create a brand new wax figure instead."

Mabel's eyes sparked, "That's a fantastic idea!"

"Do you really think you can make a better wax figure than Lincoln?" Stan asked with doubt.

"Yes and yes!" Mabel assured, answering both of those questions, "Grunkle Stan, I'm an arts and crafts master! Why do you think I have a glue gun stuck to my arm?"

"I thought that was an accident," Lincoln recalled.

"It was," Mabel replied. She revealed the sweater sleeve to everyone, showing the glue gun and other different crafts items amongst a stain of dried glue. She grunted, trying to shake it off. Giving up, she scooped up some of the melted wax with her hands "I can use this old wax to create something amazing! And Lincoln is going to help me!"

"I am?"

* * *

Dipper walked in the room, drinking a soda pop, towards Mabel and Lincoln who were in the middle of planning on the type of wax sculpture they were going to make.

"Dipper!" Mabel shouted loudly, unintentionally surprising him and making him choke on his soda.

"What do you think of _our_ -" she started.

"' _your'_ ," Lincoln corrected.

"-idea of the wax figure?" Mabel showed her brother a drawing that she sketched on her sketchbook. Dipper took a quick glimpse of it, which looked like some weird pony-princess hybrid.

"She's a fairy princess, and part _horse_ fairy princess!" she indicated.

"I personally wanted to do Hunter Spector, but Mabel didn't even know who he even is," Lincoln sighed in disappointment.

"Even I don't know who that is," Dipper remarked.

"He's the leader of ARGGH!" Lincoln exclaimed, "That show we watched a few hours ago!"

To be fair, Dipper thought both of their ideas were terrible. However, he was hesitant to pick one idea over the other, and he didn't want to pick sides right now.

"M... maybe you should carve something from real life?" Dipper suggested.

"Like Abraham Lincoln?"

"Nah, we don't need another Lincoln," Lynn joined the conversation, "For example, another famous sports star like Usain Bolt."

"Yeah, but you're all thinking it wrong. I was thinking of someone that we know personally."

"I know! Like Lincoln?" Mabel nudged Lincoln, the boy in question lightly smiling in response.

Lynn butted in, "Like I said earlier..."

Before Lynn could say any more, Stan walked into room, wearing nothing but his loose-fitting boxers that reached just above his knees. Just the sight of the man made Lynn forget what she was going to say at Mabel.

"Kids, have you seen my pants?" he asked, almost posing on top of a suitcase in a search for his pants.

Mabel let out a throttled gasp, her eyes opening and sparkling. While the other three only saw a man stepping onto a suitcase, Mabel saw much, MUCH more. The lighting was perfect, the daylight from the window enhancing his facial structure, his shadow falling behind him dramatically.

"Oh, Muse. You work in mysterious ways."

"They do?" Lincoln asked, seeing Mabel look up in a trance.

"Why is your sister talking to the ceiling?" Grunkle Stan asked Dipper.

Over the next few days, Mabel (and with a little convincing from Lincoln) decided right away to start working on her wax sculpture. The two of them worked on the sculpture themselves day after day, carefully using the wax to mend, bend, sculpt and place appropriately. However soon enough, at a particularly early morning a few days later, they were finally done with sculpting the wax figure. Dipper, Lynn and Soos walked into the room to see the sculpture for themselves as Mabel called them in.

"Oh you're here!" Mabel smiled. She unravelled the wax figure, its beauty shining in Dipper's eyes, "So, what do you think?"

Dipper's eyes twitched a little, thinking of an appropriate response to the wax replica of their Grunkle Stan.

"Is it missing something?" Mabel asked, noticing Dipper's reaction.

"Yeah," responded Lynn in an unsure manner.

"You're right! It needs more glitter!"

"Agreed," Soos nodded, handing her a bucket filled with glitter that she proceeded to throw onto the statue.

"Now it's perfect!" Mabel said quite proudly.

"It just looks more sparkly and shiny," Lincoln commented, staring at the 'improved' wax figure.

"Exactly!" Mabel's hand patted Lincoln's shoulder, "You're right! Just the way we wanted it to be!"

"You mean just you?"

"Don't lie Linky," Mabel winked, "I know you're impressed."

* * *

The grand re-opening of the forgotten wax museum took place two days later. Near the front porch of the Mystery Shack was a relatively large stage with a podium. In the middle was Mabel's and Lincoln's latest wax creation, hidden underneath a thick purple cloth. Most of the other wax figures were set up outside the shack, with a few foldable chairs set up near the front, all aligned in different rows.

While Soos was guiding the incoming cars with gigantic corndogs, Mabel, Lincoln and Stan were standing backstage watching the crowd gradually grow larger. Meanwhile, Dipper, Lynn and Wendy were at the ticket booth, collecting money from the attending customers.

"I can't believe this many people showed up," Dipper remarked as he took some person's money.

"I know right," Wendy agreed, taking the next person's cash, "Your uncle probably bribed them or something."

"He bribed me," Lynn smirked, waving a hundred dollar bill in front of Dipper and Wendy.

"Hey Lynn, can I get free admission?"

Lynn looked over the counter and saw one of her sisters leaning on the counter with a cheeky smile. The sporty athlete simply frowned.

"Which one of Lincoln's sisters are you again?" Dipper queried, leaning back into his chair.

"Your shirt is quite cool though," Wendy complimented, taking note of the plain purple t-shirt with a white skull printed in the middle of it.

"Thanks, your... hat is cool as well," she complimented back in return, in a British accent.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" Lynn got straight to the questions, "Where is everyone else?"

"They're already inside."

"What already? How come I never noticed?" Lynn gasped in horror.

Wendy shrugged, "You were probably on your toilet break then."

"So, can I get in free? I forgot to bring money," Luna pleaded.

"I don't know sis-" Lynn was uncertain, but Wendy interrupted her.

"Sure, right this way!" Wendy winked, quietly sneaking the 15-year-old rocker teen into the attraction.

"I owe you one Lynn!" Luna shouted out as she disappeared into the crowd.

A few hours later, a good portion of the town was at the grand re-opening of the wax museum. Satisfied with the turnout, Grunkle Stan walked up to the podium and tested the microphone, before he started his introduction.

"You all know me, folks!" Stan introduced, a confident grin showing on his face, "The _Mr Mystery_ man!"

The crowd awkwardly remained silent, but Stan seemingly was oblivious to that fact.

"Please, ladies, control yourselves!"

Still more silence other than the sounds of a couple of flies buzzing around. Stan rolled his eyes and continued.

"As you know, I always bring the people of this fair town, novelties and befuddlements, the likes of which the world, has never known. But enough about me..."

Using hand gestures, Stan beckoned Mabel and Lincoln on the stage, letting them walk onto the main stage until they stood next to the cloaked wax figure.

"Now behold, me!" Stan exclaimed, dramatically pulling the sheet away to reveal his wax doppelganger. Nearby, offstage, Soos hit one of the keys on a keyboard, playing a celebratory sound then repeating a sound effect of a guy saying 'Yeah' several times for good measure. A few people clapped politely, but it was evident that the crowd wasn't impressed at all.

"And now a word from our own, Mabel-angelo and Lincoln-ardo Da Vinci!" Stan announced, handing off the microphone to the two kids.

Mabel smiled at her Grunkle, eager to start the show, "It's Mabel!"

"And Lincoln!"

"Thank you for coming everyone! We made this sculpture with our own bare hands!" Mabel exclaimed.

Lincoln opened his mouth to explain, "We basically just covered it in wax and added-"

"Our blood, sweat, tears, and determination!" Mabel interrupted Lincoln's statement.

Lincoln sighed as the audience groaned in disgust. Mabel laughed at the response.

"Yeah! I will now take questions! You there!" she pointed to the old man raising his hand up.

"Old Man McGucket, local kook."

"Hey, I remember you," Lincoln exclaimed, "You were the person that tried to chase us with a mechanical monster thing."

"That was just business. Listen, are the wax figures alive? And, follow-up question, can I survive the wax man uprising?"

Lincoln looked at Mabel, giving the 'he's crazy' look to her before replying bewilderedly, "Uh... no?"

"But if they were alive, you definitively and absolutely will survive!" added Mabel, her eyes beaming with energy, "Next question!"

The two kids swiftly moved on to a teenage girl with blonde hair and a seafoam green frilled dress who raised her hand optimistically. Lincoln instantly recognised her as one of his sisters.

"Yes, Leni?"

"Hi Lincoln! Where did you get that outfit for that man in the front?"

Lincoln facepalmed at that question, "Leni, it's literally made out of wax. He's a wax figure."

Before his sister could ask another question, Mabel moved on along with the questions, picking a local journalist to ask his question.

"Toby Determined, Gravity Falls Gossiper." He introduced, "Do you really think this constitutes as a wonder of the world?"

Lincoln took a few steps back and leant towards Mabel's ear, "Since when did we mention that?"

"It was all Grunkle Stan's idea!" Mabel whispered back before turning back to the crowd. She was about to answer his question when another voice beat her to it. Grunkle Stan walked up onto the stage and glared at Toby.

"Your microphone's a turkey baster, Toby. Next question."

"Shandra Jimenez, a _real_ reporter," a woman in the third row said, holding up a flyer for the re-opening while looking at Toby with some heat, "Your flyers promised free pizza with admission to this event. Is this true?"

Being reminded of that condition, the crowd started getting angry, standing up and moving closer towards the stage.

"That was a typo. Good night everyone!" Grunkle Stan quickly corrected, triggering a smoke bomb and running away from the stage to protect the cash box on the counter. Almost instantly, within seconds, most of the crowd had dispersed away from the shack, one of them furiously tossing their chairs in annoyance.

Lincoln and Mabel walked back to Dipper, Lynn, and Mabel where they were counting their profits. Mabel calmly leant on the table, "That went well."

Her twin brother (and pretty much everyone else) gave her a dumbfounded look.

"No it didn't," he stated.

* * *

Night time soon fell onto Gravity Falls and a very enthusiastic con-man was gleefully counting his earnings.

"Hot pumpkin pie! Look at all of this cash! And I owe it all to one person: This guy!" Stan exclaimed, pointing at the statue of himself, which everyone dubbed as 'Wax Stan'. Dipper rolled his eyes, not even bothering to glance at the wax sculpture as he walked up to his room.

Mabel playfully punched her Grunkle in the process as well.

"Oh. Yeah, you too, ya little gremlin," said Grunkle Stan as he gave her a noogie.

"And Lincoln as well," Mabel added.

"Yeah, also him," Stan said. He let go of Mabel and smiled, "Now you and Dipper wash up. We got another long day of fleecing rubes. Go, go!"

He lightly pushed Mabel up the stairs, prompting the young girl to climb up the attic, take a shower and get changed into her pyjamas.

Those types of tasks took Mabel only fifteen minutes, and she was quickly lying down in her bed, observing her brother Dipper reading the journal... again.

"Dipdip, aren't you gonna go to sleep?"

"I'll sleep later," Dipper pushed it aside, "I'm trying to find anything about these wax figures. There is no way that those wax people are anyway normal."

Mabel chuckled, "You and your crazy conspiracy theories. Well I'm off to dreamland! Night bro!"

She fell asleep almost a minute later.

 **XxXxXxXxXxXx**

"You're fired! The both of you!"

The twins were awoken by a rude awakening by Stan yelling. With their pyjamas still on, they run downstairs where they see an angry Grunkle Stan pointing fingers at Lincoln and Lynn. Next to them was the wax figure of Stan but with its head missing.

"Grunkle Stan, why are you yelling in the morning?" Mabel complained, rubbing her eyes to wake herself up, "I was in an amazing dream where I was riding a unicorn!"

"Sorry Mabel but you can't trust those two anymore! They stole my Wax me's head!" Stan grumbled, pointing at the headless wax statue in the middle of the room, "There is absolutely no doubt that those two kids did this horrible crime."

"Why would I want to steal something that I created?" Lincoln asked, trying to reason why him.

"And we just got here," Lynn added on, "It just doesn't make sense. Besides, aren't you always bragging about stealing objects?"

"That's different!" Stan retorted, "Now off with you."

Just as the two Loud kids were about to leave, Dipper spoke up.

"They would never do something like that!" he defended, watching Lincoln and Lynn stop in their tracks, "What makes you so sure?"

"I woke up to use the john when I heard the doorbell but then as I was walking... blammo! He's headless!"

"That's when we arrived," Lynn continued the story, "We went inside, and that's when he started accusing us!"

"The both of you obviously snuck in when you saw me leave the area. I mean, who else would do something like this?" Grunkle Stan asked Dipper.

"I can think of the few," Dipper commented, barely audible for anyone to hear.

"Look, I'd love to believe you but let's face the facts," Stan said. He pointed his index finger at Lincoln and Lynn again, "He did it, she did it, case closed."

"You can't do this to them!" Mabel protested angrily.

"Yeah, I can't lose this job!" Lynn complained, "I'm saving up for some brand new soccer shoes!"

"I hardly pay you anything," Stan deadpanned, "Now, the door's that way. Thank you for coming and never come back!"

"You're kidding right?" Dipper said, "There must be evidence, motives, alibis! You know, literally anything! I bet I can find out who the true culprit is!"

"Dipper's really great at detective work," Mabel chipped in, "He figured out who was eating our tin cans!"

Dipper narrowed his eyes, "All signs pointed to the goat."

"Yeah, Dipper's pretty smart," Lincoln complimented, "Just don't fire us! Please?"

Grunkle Stan placed his hand on his chin, contemplating the scenario that Dipper had put upon him, "Fine! I'll give all of you twenty-four hours to 'solve' this case, even though it's irrefutable that they did it. If you don't find anyone else guilty enough, I'll fire both of them."

The old man reached out his right hand to Dipper.

"Challenge accepted," Dipper responded confidently with a smirk. He returned the handshake and tried to firmly shake it only to injure him in the process, "Ow, too rough!"

Dipper rubbed his arm in pain for a second before glancing at the three other kids, "Let's go team! We're going to find the real culprit and get back that head! Who's with me?"

Dipper extended a hand towards them. Encouraged, Lincoln, Lynn, and Mabel put their hands on top of each other, "Go Mystery Gang!"

"MYSTERY GANG!" they shouted almost in union, Dipper ruining it with a small but high-pitched sneeze.

"Aw, you sneeze like a kitten," Mabel teased. Her brother frowned.

* * *

A few minutes have passed, and the four kids were still in the living room, but it was decorated like a crime scene with makeshift toilet paper reading the words 'DO NOT CROSS' in a red marker. In the middle of the scene, was the wax body of Stan. Off to the side, was a makeshift whiteboard with a couple of markings already written on it, all relating to the current case the kids were investigating.

"Wax Stan has lost his head and it's up to us to find it," Dipper started, observing the wax body.

"It was probably someone at the reopening who felt cheated by Stan and lost their temper," Lincoln theorised.

"So basically everyone really," Lynn deadpanned, "Thanks Captain Obvious."

Dipper walked around the body, carefully examining it, "In this town, anything is possible. Ghosts, zombies, it could be months before we find our first clue."

"Hey, look! A clue!" Mabel gasped, pointing at the footprints in the carpet.

"Footprints in the shag carpet!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Weird," Lynn said, taking a closer look, "They've got a big hole in them!"

The two boys followed the prints, "And they're leading to... an axe?"

"The murder weapon!"

"It would be murder if it were even alive in the first place," Lynn reminded Mabel.

"But still, we can still use this to narrow our suspects," said Lincoln. He looked at the group, "Does anyone have any possible leads?"

"Easy," Lynn was the first to speak, "It was Luna."

"Of cour- wait what?" Lincoln grew confused.

"Here me out, last night, I didn't even hear her in the next room when I was about to fall asleep," Lynn explained, "Her motive is that she was jealous that I wasn't spending time with her."

"You two hardly spend time with each other in the first place," Lincoln debunked, "Also, Luna shares a room with three of our other sisters. All older than us. I think you're losing it."

"Seriously though..."

"Wait a minute," Mabel blurted out in excitement, "The Lumberjack!"

"That was exactly what I was thinking of," Lincoln complimented, "He would be the most likely to use an axe as a weapon."

"And he was furious when he didn't get that free pizza!" Dipper explained his motive.

"Furious enough, for _murder_!"

Lynn groaned, "It's not murder if i-"

"Just roll with it Lynn," Lincoln interrupted.

"You must mean Manly Dan," Soos said, who had just walked into the living room, "If you want to find him, he hangs out at this crazy intense biker joint downtown."

"Then that's where we're going!" Dipper said.

"But what about my suspect?" Lynn reminded everyone, "I mean maybe Luna might not have done it, but the others have the motive of wanting us fired from our job."

"And why would they want to do that?" Lincoln crossed his arms.

"I don't know, why don't you ask them?" Lynn countered, "Plus it's not that hard to use an axe. I've seen Lori and Luna chop firewood when we went camping, remember?"

"Fine, I'll check on them with you," Lincoln grumbled.

"Not with me," Lynn evilly smirked, nudging at Mabel, "You're going with Mabel."

"What?"

"I've got to check out that lumberjack guy," Lynn commented, "C'mon Dipper, I've got fake I.D. cards for the both of us."

"How did you exactly..." Dipper drifted off.

"Trust me; you wouldn't want to know the answer to that question," Lynn said as she dragged Dipper towards a golf-cart and drove off, leaving Lincoln and Mabel of their own accord.

"So... where exactly do you live?"

* * *

With a brown backpack equipped on Dipper's back and Lynn's fake IDs for the both of them, they arrived at the Skull Fracture, a local bar in a rough-looking street, overlooking past downtown. The two of them hid behind a nearby dumpster, spying and thinking of a plan to get inside.

"This looks like the place," Dipper whispered to Lynn behind a nearby dumpster, "Got the fake IDs?"

Lynn gave Dipper his own card. He looked at his photo and saw a stock picture of an adult man with brown hair, which looked nothing like him, "There is no way he's going to buy this."

"Trust me, they will," Lynn winked. She got up and walked from the dumpster to the bar where a big, tall bouncer was standing, guarding and blocking the only visible entrance. The bouncer noticed the two of them walk over and glared at them.

"We're here to interrogate Manly Dan the lumber jack for the murder of Wax Stan," Lynn claimed confidently, flashing out her card as well as Dipper's.

The bouncer shrugged, "Works for me," sidestepping away from the entrance, allowing the two to walk inside.

The interior of the bar was dimly lit and smelled of alcohol with a hint of sweat lingering in the air. Like any other ordinary bar, it was almost as decorated as an empty house, with the structure of the building to being spaced out, if it weren't for the array of patrons drinking, with little furnishing to the sides. From the near right of the room, were several stools lined up against a long bar counter table. Also, there were many people, exclusively men with muscular builds hanging out in the vicinity of the area. From Dipper's observation, it was rowdy, with fights regularly starting and ending, not a place that a boy like him would ever go at his age. Regardless, work had to be done.

A few seconds into the bar, Dipper formulated a plan for both him and Lynn, "Okay Lynn, try to blend in with the locals around the area and see if anything pops up. I see Manly Dan over there, so I'll talk to him. Is that clear?"

"I sorta wanted to talk to Manly Dan but it's your call Dipper," Lynn's smile dropped a little but she still split up with Dipper to cover more ground.

Dipper turned away and made his way over to the lumberjack who was playing an arm-wrestling arcade game on the wall.

"Manly Dan, just the guy I wanted to see," Dipper said, approaching him, "Where were you last night?"

"Punchin' the clock."

"You were at work?" Dipper tried to clarify.

"No, I was punchin' that clock!" Manly Dan replied back, pointing to a broken clock outside.

Dipper followed his finger and looked at the time on the clock, "10 o'clock, huh? That's interesting."

The boy pulled out the axe out of his backpack, "So, I guess you've never seen this before?"

"Listen little girl!" Dan began, looking straight into the preteen's eyes to intimidate him.

"Hey, actually I'm a- " Dipper interjected, only for the lumberjack to cut him off mid-sentence.

"I wouldn't pick my teeth with that axe!" he shouted, "It's left handed! I only use my right hand, the MANLY HAND!"

He ripped off the game machine's arm as he finished his statement, smashing the machine with it.

"Well, sorry for wasting your time," Dipper backed away slowly, accidentally bumping into Lynn.

"So did you find anything Dipper?" Lynn asked, drinking some clear golden liquid from a glass.

"Are you drinking?"

Lynn looked at the half-full glass for a second with confusion, before laughing, "That's just apple juice. My parents would kill me if I actually drunk anything alcoholic."

"Right," Dipper began to move on to the explanation, "So far, Manly Dan's alibi seems to check out and the axe is left-handed. How about you?"

Lynn smirked at this, "Get this! Last night, there was a big brawl outside the Skull Fracture because of a misunderstanding. Everyone here is mostly unscratched but they did mention how Manly Dan was the real hero of the day or something."

"So basically," Lynn is finished, "Manly Dan is clean."

"Yikes!" Dipper cursed himself, "But we do know now that our murderer was left-handed. So, we have a whole array of suspects!"

Lynn rolled her eyes as Dipper got more excited, "C'mon, let's find that murderer!"

* * *

"Mabel, this is the place," Lincoln stated, stopping just metres away from the house. He got out his own clipboard filled with notes and began to prepare for the investigation.

"Wow, it's _so_ big!" Mabel gasped in amazement, "It's like you live in a mansion!"

"It's more of a cabin really. Besides, our house over at Royal Woods is bigger," the eleven-year-old boy casually mentioned before looking at Mabel sternly, "Okay, before we go in, I have to remind you that I have nine other sisters and... they're usually a bit crazy whenever I bring over a girl."

"Don't worry about it," Mabel shrugged it off with a laugh, "I'm sure I can handle anything right now."

"I hope so," Lincoln replied while he knocked on the front door, waiting for someone to answer it, "Just try and act cool."

A few seconds had passed before the front door opened from the inside, revealing all of his sisters minus Lynn gleefully looking at the two.

"Um, hi?" Mabel greeted sheepishly, before looking directly at Lincoln, "They're staring at me."

"Awww, Lincoln's got a new girlfriend!" Leni blurted out in front of everyone. This caused Lincoln to blush and Mabel to be completely shocked.

"I am so sorry about that," Lincoln quietly mumbled, just enough for Mabel to hear, "Let's just get this done and over with."

"Good idea," Mabel whispered back.

Lincoln turned back to his sisters, "Girls, can I ask you a few questions? "

"Sure Lincoln!" Lori responded first, "But you got to tell us about your new friend!"

"I mean some of you have already met her but, she is just my friend okay," Lincoln reminded them, "Nothing more."

"Whatever you say," Lola said in a mocking voice, with a knowing smirk and a wink.

"So, who is up first?" Mabel asked.

* * *

Using a premade list of people that were written down on a clipboard and a pen, Dipper and Lynn ran around town to find out if they are left handed as well as ask if there was any suspicious behaviour.

Their first stop was the local dump where they learnt a few days ago where a particular type of individual lived.

"Hey McGucket!" Lynn waved at the crazy old man sporting a white beard, "How's it going?"

As Lynn walked over to him, he waved back using his right hand, prompting Dipper to tick something off the checklist.

"Ah'm doin' great!" McGucket answered with a barely understandable accent, "What brings ya here?"

"Just here to ask a few questions," Dipper was the one to answer, getting his pen ready.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the cabin, Lincoln's oldest sister Lori was situated opposite of Lincoln and Mabel in the kitchen. The 17-year-old blonde sat down on a kitchen chair, texting somebody from her smartphone.

"Lori!" Mabel announced, "Where were you on the night on the murder?"

"I was up last night literally texting Bobby," Lori replied casually, "What's your next question?"

* * *

Lynn dropped the package next to the front door while Dipper with a fake moustache knocked on it. A few seconds later, a slightly fat guy wearing a shirt that read 'free pizza' answered, and looked at the two kids

"Can you sign this?" Dipper asked, handing a disclosure form and a pen over to him.

The guy grabbed the pen using his right hand, making Lynn cross him out as one of the suspects.

* * *

"Why do I have to sign this?"

"To make sure that you are telling the truth to us," Lincoln responded coldly, "And that anything that comes out here stays in here."

"I'm only six!" Lola complained, "And I can obviously keep secrets."

"Your history with our family says otherwise."

Lola crossed her arms, "Okay I _may_ have blabbed some secrets and that I _sometimes_ lie to you, but trust me, I was having my beauty sleep when your silly statue was stolen. Why would I want to take something that ugly?"

Mabel's face turned red in anger, grabbing Lincoln's pen and threatening to throw it at her.

* * *

"Think fast!" Lynn yelled as she threw a baseball at a grumpy woman, frowning.

"Wait Lynn!" Dipper protested a second too late as the ball went flying towards her.

Fortunately for him, the woman merely caught the ball with her right hand without any change of expression on her face. Almost immediately, her hand crushed the ball, turning it into an irregular shape before dropping it on the ground.

Dipper crossed out her name on the list.

* * *

And Lincoln moved on to the next person below, "Mabel, can you get Lily for me?"

"Wait really?" Mabel asked for clarification, "She's just a baby."

"Oh right," Lincoln scratched his head out of embarrassment, "Well all my sisters' stories check out, should we find Dipper and Lynn?"

"Lead the way Linky!"

Lincoln rolled his eyes at the sound of that nickname as he and Mabel left through the front door.

* * *

A man walked through his front door, seeing Dipper and Lynn with a clipboard.

"Hey can I ask you somethi-" Dipper started before he saw the man had casts on both of his arms, making it impossible for him to even carry anything as heavy as an axe.

"Sorry, never mind,"

* * *

By three 'o'clock, the four of them were back at the crime scene, gathering and sharing the information they obtained from the past few hours.

"Mabel, Lincoln, did you find anything?" Dipper asked as he stood next to a whiteboard.

"Sort of," Lincoln replied, "We interviewed each of our sisters and they all had alibis last night. I mean they do share the same room with each other. It would be hard for one for them to sneak out and come back without anyone noticing."

"Really?" Lynn questioned, "Did any of our sisters hear and spot anything suspicious last night?"

"Other than them thinking that Mabel was my girlfriend, then no."

"Wait!" Mabel gasped, "Didn't the funny one say that she heard someone get out of her room before going to sleep,"

"Yeah, that was Luna," Lincoln explained, "And she obviously just went to the kitchen to grab some water."

"Mabel has a point," Lynn started writing down facts, "Did anyone see her come back into her room?"

"No," said Lincoln nervously, "But it was because everyone was asleep. She obviously didn't want to wake anyone up?"

"Now that you think about it," Mabel was coming up with ideas, "Luna's alibi didn't make any sense."

"Obviously to hide the fact that she was the one who framed us!" Lynn sternly accused, "We got our killer!"

"Hold on," Dipper protested, "How about our own leads?"

"That's right!" Lincoln exclaimed, desperate to change the topic, "What did you guys find?"

"We figured out that the axe is for left-handed people," Dipper proudly stated, "That fact alone narrowed our suspects down to a single person."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, prompting Lincoln to respond angrily, "Before you say anything, Luna is right-handed. You happy now?"

"No."

"Would it make you happy if we talked to Luna again after we chase Dipper's actual lead?"

Lynn smirked, "Yeah, it would."

Dipper sighed in relief, seeing the two siblings come to an agreement, "Now, let's go and catch our criminal!"

* * *

Using the golf carts from the Mystery Shack, the four of them drove themselves outside to a small building marked as the 'Gravity Falls Gossiper'. By the time they got there, it was nearing sundown, the sky radiating an orange hue. They parked near the side of the road and walked up to the front.

"Are you sure it's him?" Mabel asked, a bit hesitant at accusing Dipper's suspect.

"The evidence is irrefutable!" Dipper reassured his sister, knocking on the door. They had waited for a few seconds before a journalist with glasses answered the door.

"How may I-"

"Toby Determined! We know you did it!" Dipper immediately shouted, stomping towards inside the building. The rest of them shuffled inside as well, only anxiously.

"Aaaah! What are you talking about?"

"You're the one who murde-" Dipper got a glare from Lynn as he said that.

"Sorry, I meant 'stole'," Dipper sarcastically apologised, "You stole the wax head off the wax body of Grunkle Stan!"

Toby was shocked, "Gobbling goose feathers! I don't understand."

"Then allow one of my comrades to explain," said Dipper, signalling to his three friends to come forward and explain. This backfired when none of them wanted to step forward.

"C'mon guys!" Dipper complained, "Help a fellow sleuth out!"

"Sorry, but we usually leave all the smart stuff to you Dipper!" his sister chimed in.

"Fine!"

Dipper started to walk around as he explained his theory, "You were hoping that Grunkle Stan's new attraction would be the story that saved your failing newspaper. But when the show was a flop, you decided to go out and make your own headline!"

Dipper picked up a nearby newspaper and shoved it in his face, a picture of the headless wax Stan.

"But you were sloppy, and all the clues pointed to a shabby shoed reporter who was caught red-handed! Toby Determined, you're yesterday's news!" Dipper boasted, crumpling up the newspaper.

The boy in the blue and white hat looked behind, seeing Mabel, Lincoln, and Lynn wincing and groaning at the remark, "Really dude, that's something my sister Luan would say."

"That is true," Lynn remarked.

"Yeah, it was absolutely terrible."

"Mabel! You would've said that if you had come with me!" said Dipper.

"Boy, your little knees must be sore... from _jumping_ to conclusions!" Toby taunted as he did a little dance, "Hachacha! I had nothing to do with that murder!"

"I'm so sorry Dipper but that wordplay was better than yours," Lincoln admitted.

"That's true also,"

"Yeah, it wa-"

"Okay, I get the point guys," Dipper was close to yelling, "Toby, where were you on the night of the robbery?"

Toby shuffled a bit back, obviously hiding something from the others, "Um... you just have to trust me on this."

Lincoln was in disbelief, "Did you actually do it?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why are you acting all secretive about it?" Dipper questioned, "It's obvious you're hiding something. If you don't tell us, then we'll call up the police."

Toby hesitated for a second before hanging his head in shame, "Do you promise you won't make fun of me?"

"Yeah, I won't."

* * *

" _Finally we can be alone, cardboard cutout of female news reporter Shandra Jimenez!"_

The only television screen in the building was displaying security footage of last night on a VCR where Toby was making out with a piece of cardboard. It certainly didn't help decrease the amount of awkwardness when Lynn couldn't stop laughing uncontrollably.

"Lynn, stop laughing!"

"Sorry Dipper but wow," Lynn stopped for a second to take a breath before she continued laughing, "But that is never getting out of my brain!"

"Sorry about my sister," Lincoln apologised, "We now know you didn't do it."

"Yeah, but who did it then?" Mabel asked.

"Duh, we go back to Luna!" Lynn butted in, "But first... let me finish laughing."

She laughed for a full minute before they left.

* * *

It was already night time by the time they got to where the Loud siblings were staying and while they did stop over at the Shack for a quick dinner, they still wasted no time calling Luna up and interrogating her. Well, to be truthful, it was only Lynn who was questioning the rocker while the three other sleuths observed.

"I didn't do it Lynn!" Luna denied with a tonne of anger and frustration, "No matter how many times you ask me, my answer will not change!"

"Okay let's go already," Lincoln urged, "I've only got tonight to hang out with Dipper and Mabel and we're wasting it on this impossible case!"

"How about try asking a different question?" Dipper suggested.

"Good idea Dipper!" Lynn praised, "Where were you last night?"

"I was at home! I already told Lincoln and Mabel this!"

"No-one saw or heard you enter bedroom #1," Lynn accused, "Explain that."

"Everyone was asleep and it was in the middle of the night."

Lynn frowned, "Then I guess I'll have to bring out the big guns. It's also known as 'new evidence'!"

Mabel was getting suspicious, "What exactly are you implying?"

Lynn pulled out a guitar pick with an image of a skull on it, the same one that was on Luna's shirt, "I saw this a while back one of the roads when we were questioning people about the night before. Look familiar?"

Luna gulped, "N-no! I've never seen this before."

"Okay, Lynn is starting to convince me here," Lincoln admitted, "What's going on Luna?"

"Okay you got me!" Luna admitted.

Lynn pulled a fist in the end, "Yes! I knew it!

"I got invited to a party by Wendy, one of the cool teenagers around in the place. I didn't want to tell anyone because Lynn might snitch me in. You can ask Wendy or any of the other teenagers at the party which is far away from where you work."

"Luna, I would never snitch on you!" Lincoln gasped.

"I only said Lynn's name."

"I'll take your word for it Luna," Dipper spoke up, "It must be pretty cool to hang out with Wendy. Did she say anything about me?"

"She did sa-"

"Wait! Ask Lisa to check the axe for fingerprints!" said Lynn, handing her brother Lincoln the axe.

"May I be of assistance?"

A young toddler wearing a green turtleneck sweater and glasses walked into the room with a static expression.

"Hey Lisa," Lincoln greeted the four-year-old awkwardly, "We were just hoping-"

"... that I scan your axe for any fingerprints and foreign material?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"The walls are super thin and I can hear your entire conversation from the other room," Lisa explained, "And from my previous encounter with Lincoln and Mabel, I can tell that there is some trouble with a case that is seemingly impossible."

"Oh."

"In exchange for your help, I shall require all four of you to help me be part of an experiment on a future date."

Lincoln shook Lisa's hand before any of the other three could object, "Deal!"

"Good, now if you all just follow me," Lisa ordered, "I can find out exactly who stole the head of that hideous wax figure."

"What?" Mabel wheezed in disgust at that statement.

Lisa decided to ignore her as she walked into her bedroom to grab a hi-tech scanner, which was located in a safe on a wall, hidden and locked away from the other three sisters that she shared her room with.

"Lincoln, please hand me the axe," Lisa requested as she put on some gloves. Lincoln nodded and gave it to her.

Using the scanner, Lisa slowly and carefully scanned the wooden handle, rotating

"Sorry but other than all four of your fingerprints, since none of you bothered even to use gloves, there's nothing imprinted on them other than some wax residue that I presumed to be from the incident."

"No prints? How is that even possible?" Lynn muttered under her breath.

"Fortunately, I did the honour of installing security cameras in this house," Lisa added, "And I have a strong feeling that I may have solved this case."

"Lisa, where are you going with this?" Lincoln asked with curiosity.

"Let me explain," Lisa pulled out a smart tablet and opened up security footage of the front yard on the screen, "This morning at 5 am, I saw Lynn walk out the front door. She didn't come back until 6 am where she stealthily entered; looking around her surroundings to see if no-one saw her. Based on the evidence I was presented, I can safely conclude that Lynn was the one who stole the wax statue's head."

"Lynn, please tell me you didn't do it," Dipper pleaded, not wanting to believe it to be true.

"I swear, I'm telling you guys! It wasn't me!" Lynn was sweating, "I was just doing my early morning jog!"

Lincoln was furious, "I heard enough. It was obvious that you weren't happy with your job in the Mystery Shack, so you devised a plan to get yourself fired. The only problem was that you were jealous that I was enjoying myself regardless and jealously took over you. When you saw that wax statue that Mabel and I made, you realised that by stealing the wax head of our boss, you could bring me down with me!"

"And you thought that my wax statue of Grunkle Stan was ugly!" Mabel added with added frustration.

"I was framed!" Lynn claimed, "C'mon, you can't believe all the evidence that somehow incriminates me of this."

"You're not exactly helping your case here," Lisa hinted.

"Lynn! You're going to stay here while me, Dipper and Mabel explain who the real culprit is to Stan!" Lincoln ordered.

The 14-year-old athlete sighed in defeat and sadness, "Okay, I'll be in our room."

"Let's just go now," Dipper said with an equal amount of sorrow.

* * *

Back over to the Mystery Shack, a makeshift funeral was taking place as sad music filled the wax figure room which reflected perfectly on the mood on Soos, Grunkle Stan and the three other kids who were sitting at the front. The oldest out of the group walked to the front of the room to address the crowd of wax figures who were lined up in rows, facing the front. It eerily almost felt like a real funeral.

"Kids, Soos, lifeless wax figures, thank you all for coming," Grunkle Stan thanked, giving his heartfelt eulogy behind a podium, "Some people might say it's wrong for a man to love a wax replica of himself."

"They're wrong!" Soos shouted, jumping up from his chair.

"Easy Soos," Grunkle Stan warned, "Lynn, I bet you're happy that an innocent wax person was unjustly beheaded by your wicked cruelty! You make me sick!"

"I am so sorry for your loss," Lincoln apologised to him on behalf of himself and his sister.

"Don't be, kid. She just didn't understand the connection between us," Stan replied, before looking at his headless wax figure, "Wax Stan, I hope you're picking pockets in Wax Heaven."

Grunkle Stan shed a few tears as he said those last few words, before he ran out of the podium unable to control his emotions, "I'm sorry, I got glitter in my eyes."

He sprinted out of the room, Soos following suit also with tears in his eyes, "Ohhh duud... dd... eee..."

Only Dipper, Mabel and Lincoln as the only human things left in the room. Lincoln slumped over his head in sadness, frustrated at what had happened. Dipper noticed his friend like this, which prompted him to ask.

'Are you okay, Linky?" Mabel asked, putting a hand over his shoulder.

"Not really," Lincoln admitted, "I can't believe that one of my sisters would even do such a thing!"

Mabel sighed, "I know. I really wish it was someone else who murdered Wax Stan."

"Unfortunately, the evidence stacks up against Lynn: the alibi, the motive, the clues," Dipper explained, staring at Wax Stan. However, as he continued staring, he noticed something rather odd, "Wax Stan's shoe has a hole in his shoe."

"Yeah, all the wax guys have that," Mabel elaborated, "It's where the pole-thingys attaches to their stand dealy!

Lincoln's mind clicked, "Wait a minute! What has a hole in its shoe and no fingerprints? Guys! The murderers are-"

"Standing right behind you," a deep British voice said behind them. The kids turned around and to their horror, watched as their wax figures came back to life.

Dipper gasped, "Wax Sherlock Holmes! Wax Shakespeare! Wax Coolio?"

"Wha s'up Holmes?"

A wax version of Lizzie Borden grabbed the axe that Mabel was carrying, as she gasped in surprise, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"

"Congratulations, my amateur sleuths," Wax Holmes sarcastically praised, "It only took you one of your own to be wrongly accused."

The wax figure pointed his magnifying glass at the three in a threatening stance. Mabel grasped onto Dipper and Lincoln, as they squirmed into the back wall out of fear.

"Bravo, Lincoln Loud. You've discovered our little secret," Wax Holmes continued, taking the head of Wax Stan out of his cape, "Applaud everyone, applaud sarcastically."

The wax figures began clapping for a few seconds, until Wax Holmes stopped them, "Uh, no, that sounds too sincere."

Correcting themselves, the clapping grew slower and less significant, "That's better, nice and condescending."

B-But... how is this possible? You're made of wax!" Dipper exclaimed.

"Are you... magic?" Mabel asked hopefully. Wax Holmes laughed along with the others.

"Are we magic?" he repeated, in a mocking tone, "She wants to know if we're magic!"

His laughing suddenly stopped, and he slammed the fist of his hand against the coffin threateningly, " _We're cursed_!"

" _Cursed! Cursed!_ " The wax figures chanted.

"Isn't that still magic?" Lincoln questioned only for him to be rudely interrupted.

"Shut your mouth kid. We've been cursed to come to life whenever the moon is out!" Wax Holmes grimaced, "Your uncle bought us many years ago at a garage sale."

" _Steal_ ," Wax Robin Hood corrected.

"And he's not my uncle," Lincoln Loud commented as well.

"Everyone, can you wait until I finish monologuing?" Wax Holmes requested in annoyance. Both of them kept quiet, indicating that they completely understood, "Where was I? Before I was so rudely interrupted, the Mystery Shack Wax Collection was born! By day, we would be the playthings of man."

"But when your uncle went to sleep, we would rule the night!" Wax Coolio added.

"It was a charmed life for us cursed beings..." Wax Holmes lamented, before his voice became harsh once more, "That is, until your uncle closed shop."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other with dread, already thinking of how this will end.

"We've been waiting ten years to get our revenge on Stan for locking us away," Holmes said, "But we got the wrong guy."

Lincoln looked at him grimly as he sighed deeply, "I should've known it wasn't Lynn!"

Dipper, on the other hand, was shocked at the wax statues' true plan, "So, you were trying to murder Grunkle Stan for real?"

"You were right all along Dipper! Wax people _are_ creepy!" Mabel said, looking at her brother.

"Enough!" Wax Sherlock yelled, interrupting them, "Now that you know our secret, you must _die_!"

His eyes and the eyes of all the other wax people rolled up into her friends, making them appear to be lifeless zombies. They slowly walked towards them while the kids started backing up. Only a few metres away, they were stopped when they backed themselves against a large table.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know Mabel!" Lincoln replied.

"Throw stuff at them!" Dipper urged as they grabbed random items and threw them towards the approaching wax figures. It was hopeless however as they shrugged off the attacks with little to no effort.

"We ran out of stuff!" Mabel shrieked with terror.

"Already?!" Dipper shouted.

"I guess this is it," Lincoln was ready to accept his fate as they got closer and closer.

The three of them closed their eyes, bracing for the end until they heard a large scream coming from the wax figures. Lincoln slowly opened his eyes, seeing Wax Coolio melt in agony. From out one of the windows, he saw his sister climbing onto the window frame with a water gun in her right hand as well as few more buckled on her waist.

"Lynn?"

"Yeah, I figured they were wax figures," Lynn chuckled to herself.

Dipper was almost speechless, "But how?"

"After thinking about how I can prove myself that I didn't do it, I started thinking about the footprints and after some careful thinking, I worked out that-"

"Can this wait?" Lincoln interrupted, "We're about to get mobbed by wax people."

"Sorry," Lynn apologised as she threw her spare water guns towards Lincoln, Dipper and Mabel.

Lynn joined her brother and the Pines twins as they held out their water guns at the wax figures, feeling a bit less scared.

"A water gun?" Wax Holmes ridiculed, "Oh no, I'm _so_ scared of a children's toy!"

"It's not just a water gun!" Lynn said, smirking as she shot a blast towards a Wax Julia Child. She opened her mouth and swallowed it.

"Chicken soup!" Julia Child gleefully exclaimed before melting away into a puddle.

"Yeah!" Lynn fist pumped the air, " _Boiling_ chicken soup!"

"Delicious but deadly," Mabel mused, smiling at what she just said.

"Anyone move, and we'll cook you into dinner!" Dipper warned threateningly. His grip on his water gun tightened.

"You really think you can defeat us?" Wax Holmes asked.

"I-I don't really know."

"I'm not-I'm not really sure."

"It's worth a shot I guess."

"What's with you guys today?" said Lynn, looking over at her friends with disbelief, "We have guns! Of course we're going to defeat them!"

"So be it," Wax Holmes sneered, before shouting, " **Attack!** "

The figures rushed at them, prodding the four kids to shoot their scalding hot chicken soup at them. Lynn was the first one to bravely attack, as she ran up towards a Wax Lizzie Borden, and shot her in the head, seconds before the axe she was carrying swung down towards the athlete. She screamed and gasped as she transformed into a melting mess.

"Never bring an axe to a gun fight!" Lynn quipped.

Meanwhile, Dipper skilfully dodged and ducked around the figures, only ever attacking from behind and conserving his hits for accuracy while his sister Mabel took on multiple figures at a time, gunning them down like a machine gun successfully. Lincoln, on the other hand, stayed near the fireplace, taking advantage of the extra heat that the flames were omitting, giving the intended effect of the lack of wax figures bothering to fight him. Also, his position allowed him to observe if Lynn or any of his friends were getting sneak-attacked.

"Dipper watch out!" Lincoln yelled as Genghis Khan was about to stab Dipper in the back. Luckily, Dipper sidestepped while Lincoln blasted him from across the room.

"Ha Genghis Khan! You fell hotter than the, ah, I don't know, Gin dynasty?" Dipper tried to quip, only for it to come out awkwardly. Lincoln looked at him with an eyebrow raised, "What? C'mon, you gotta admit that was good Lincoln!"

"Yeah, there's still a couple of wax figures left. Maybe focus on melting them instead?"

Dipper groaned, "Alright."

The fight continued on for a few minutes, and the four kids have gotten rid of almost all the wax figures. Unfortunately, Dipper got himself pinned down against Wax Holmes on the ground with his gun all out of ammo.

"Once your family and friends are out of the way, we'll rule the night once more!" Wax Holmes exclaimed. He swung his sword towards the boy's body, but Dipper rolled sideways, barely dodging the tip of the blade.

Dipper scowled, "Don't count on it!"

The 12-year-old boy with the hat wiggled out of Wax Holmes grasp and, looking at the window in the distance, he sprinted towards it, climbing out of it into the outside world.

"Come back here, you brat!" Wax Holmes yelled as he pursued after him. Over on the other side of the room, Lincoln, Mabel and Lynn were standing in fear, after their guns conveniently ran out of chicken soup.

"What do we do now?" Mabel whispered to the Loud siblings. Lincoln smiled a little.

"I think I've got a plan."

Outside, Dipper carefully climbed onto the ceiling, getting himself higher by jumping onto the Mystery Shack sign, trying to balance himself as he sought to get away from Wax Holmes who was hot on his heel. He followed him, his sword swinging every so often to try and destroy the young boy as well as maintain his balance.

"Dipper!" Mabel cried out to her brother. Dipper glanced behind his attacker to see that his sister and his friends had made their way up and were watching Dipper flee.

"What are you doing?" Dipper tried to yell at them, but they were too far from him for them to hear. Wax Holmes saw this as an opportunity and swung her axe, which barely missed Dipper by a centimetre. This caused him to jump out of surprise and bump into the letter 'S' of the Mystery Shack sign, making the letter fall off. With no other option left, Dipper climbed off the sign and hid behind the chimney to catch his breath. But it wasn't enough. Once his heart rate had slowed down, it was too late as behind him, the wax figure kicked him down.

"You really thought you could outwit me, boy? I'm Sherlock bleeding Holmes! Have you seen my magnifying glass? It's enormous!"

Wax Holmes raised his sword, getting ready to stab him.

"Any last words?"

Dipper gulped, "Um... you got any sunscreen?"

"Got any su-" Wax Holmes started to repeat in confusion until he was suddenly hit by a small blast of chicken soup on the head, instantly killing his conscience, knocking him off the roof and making him melt on the ground. Dipper searched for the source of the shot, seeing Lynn with an almost empty water gun.

"What were you thinking Dipper?" Lynn asked in an annoyed tone, "I know what you were trying to do and that was stupid. It's still ten at night! The sun doesn't even rise for a few hours at least."

Mabel ran up to Dipper and hugged him tightly, "Don't scare me like that okay Dipper?"

"Yeah," Lincoln joined the others, "It almost cost you your life."

Dipper returned the hug from Mabel, "Sorry, I just don't know what came over me. It felt like the fight went on forever."

"It actually went for five minutes," told Lincoln, "I guess this still means that Lynn won't have her job back. I mean, how are we going to explain that a bunch of wax figures stole a piece of Wax Stan's head?"

"Don't worry about it," Dipper assured, letting out a little small laugh, "I'll take the hit tomorrow. It's the least I can do after almost scaring everyone to death."

* * *

Early next morning, Lincoln and Lynn returned back to the Mystery Shack for their day back to work. As they knocked on the door, they overheard a conversation going on between Dipper and his Grunkle Stan, explaining that he was the one who stole the wax head and although there was a bit of yelling, when the door finally opened, they saw a genuine smile on Stan's face.

"Welcome back you two!" Stan greeted them, "We've got heaps of gullible customers to take their money from! C'mon, this job doesn't do itself!"

"So about the wax he-"

"My nephew Dipper already explained everything," Stan interrupted, "And you're rehired, Lynn!"

"Thanks."

"Now, today is a busy day..." Stan started to ramble on, but for the two Loud siblings, everything was back to normal.

 **Author's Note: The Headhunters episode in Gravity Falls reminded me a lot of those generic crime detective shows that you see on late-night television sometimes so I wanted to make it somewhat similar to that over here. Also, I decided to break a little from true canon and make some events slightly different, causing Dipper and Mabel to take a different route to the solution. This chapter still has the core elements on the plotline but I tried to make it fresh and new, making slight changes that would bend the scenarios a little.**

 **So next up is the Mabel meets a Psychic episode. Gideon falls in love with Mabel, Mabel wants to be friends, Gideon starts being too clingy. Well, that's also getting slightly altered.**

 **Whoops**


	4. S01E04: How to Lose a Gideon in 10 Days

**Yeah, I haven't updated this for three months. Also, this chapter is a little short compared to the last three chapters (this one is 8,000 words). Oh well.**

 **gamelover41592: I wanted to try and play off the Gideon chapter a bit more differently because while I did enjoy the original episode, I felt like having Gideon only like Mabel won't play out as well in this crossover. I hope this chapter makes Mabel's and Gideon's relationship a bit more interesting.**

 **Theyomamajokester: I hope you didn't forget about me :P**

* * *

It started on an ordinary day at the Mystery Shack. Stan was outside ripping people off, while Dipper, Mabel, Lincoln, and Lynn slacked off in the living room, watching TV. As expected, the former Pines twin was concentrating more on reading the mysterious journal that they found nearby.

"The tiger was badly injured in the explosion, but we repaired him with a fist," the show narrator said, while a _Tiger Fist_ logo appeared on the screen for a brief second. It disappeared just as fast as the television jumped to a tiger with a giant arm in a hospital room that began punching itself.

Not long after, the scene froze as the same narrator spoke again, "Tiger Fist will return after these messages."

A commercial with a pair of hands throwing doves into the air appeared on the screen.

"Hey, guys!" Lincoln pointed out, "It's that commercial that I was talking about earlier."

Dipper paused and looked up from the journal he was reading. The next scene changed to a shot of a majestic mountain view.

"Are you completely miserable?" a Southern voice asked.

The commercial played a scene of a man weeping in his bedroom, "YESS!" cried the man.

"Then you need to meet..." the voice whispered the next part, "Gideon!"

"Gideon?" Dipper questioned.

"What makes him so special?" Mabel asked.

"He's a psychic," the voice seemingly answered her question.

Mabel tilted her head to the side, "Aroo?"

"So don't waste your time with the other so-called Man of Mystery," the voice continued. The screen flashed to footage of Stan coming out of an outhouse before the word 'fraud' was stamped on the screen, "Learn about it tonight at Gideon's Tent of Telepathy."

Mabel smiled, "Wow, I'm getting all curiously inside!"

"Well, don't get too curious," Stan warned, walking inside, "Even since that monster Gideon rolled into town, I've had nothing but trouble. I prohibit anyone that works under my roof to pay to see Gideon."

"C'mon Mr Pines!" Lincoln countered, "We have two extra tickets, and I was kinda hoping to take Dipper and Mabel with us."

"Why do you even buy them in the first place?" Dipper questioned.

"I didn't. My younger sister Lucy had a crush on him and she pleaded my parents into going," Lincoln explained, "So our Pop-Pop bought us fourteen tickets to Gideon's show; one for me, my sisters, my parents and Pop-Pop himself. Our parents couldn't come tonight though because they had already booked a place at a fancy restaurant on the same day."

"And it's a bummer because I was going to spend my time doing this sick workout routine!" Lynn exclaimed.

"So please come with us," Lincoln pleaded, "We're being forced to go by my parents!"

Dipper paused for a moment before turning back to the two Loud siblings, "We didn't technically pay for it," he mischievously smiled, thinking back to Grunkle Stan's exact words, "So, yeah, we're technically allowed to accept these."

"I think we just found our loop hole... literally!" Mabel held up a string with a loop in it, "Mwop, mwop!"

"So come down soon, folks," the same voice from the Gideon commercial called out through the television, "Gideon is expectin' ya!"

 _ ***Cue Gravity Falls Theme Song***_

* * *

That very evening, many of the Gravity Falls citizens and visitors (including the Loud family plus Dipper and Mabel) came by to the Tent of Telepathy to see what marvels awaited inside. Standing near the entry way was a slightly chubby man who served as the announcer promoting Gideon.

"Step right up there, folks," he greeted, "Before you can walk in, you gotta hand me your tickets!"

The ticket-holders lined up in front of the entrance, slowly moving forward as Bud happily collected the pieces of paper from their hands, allowing them entry. Somewhere along the queue, Dipper and Mabel stayed close to Lincoln and Lynn while holding onto their tickets. Earlier in the day, Lincoln decided to let Dipper and Mabel stay at their place so they could carpool in his dad's van.

"I'm getting nervous already," Mabel blurted out quietly, 'What if he's secretly a werewolf?"

"Don't worry Mabel!" Dipper calmed down his sister, "For all we know, he could be a huge sham like Grunkle Stan," he turned to the only other boy in his vicinity, "Lincoln, you said your younger sister had a crush on him. You know what he looks like?"

"I wish I did," Lincoln admitted, "But she was very secretive about it and I couldn't find any images of people that might look like him."

"I willing to bet that he's a goth just like her," Lynn stated, "All of her crushes were all the gloomy type."

It didn't take long for the line to move along and after a minute, they were at the front with the other Loud siblings, holding their tickets. They were granted entry and soon found themselves in a large tent that was barely even decorated; instead, a couple of benches occupied the majority of the space, with a tiny empty red stage made of wood at the front. Above it was a colourful wooden pentagram with an eye plastered in the middle. Dipper and Mabel choose to sit between Lincoln and Lynn near the front row.

"Whoa, this is like a bizarre version of the Mystery Shack," Dipper pointed out, "They even have their own Soos!"

Lincoln, Lynn and Mabel turned their attention to a man who looks suspiciously close to the likeable man working at the real Shack. Before they could discuss further what other similarities the place had, the lights slowly dimmed and the curtains were rolling.

"It's starting! It's starting!" Mabel gasped in excitement.

"Time to reveal who you really are," Lincoln crossed his arms, curious to see who is behind Lucy's crush.

A spotlight focused into the centre of the stage, where the blue curtains were. In the spotlight, a dark and menacing silhouette appeared in the centre. The curtains parted however only to reveal a short, cute and freckly boy with a baby blue suit.

Lincoln did not look happy, "Someone's gotta be messing with me. He almost looks like my long lost twin brother."

"But creepier," Lynn muttered under her breath, "I mean just look at his hair. It's like a puffed out soccer ball!"

In an effort to dissociate any other similarities between himself and the boy on stage, Lincoln paid closer attention, attempting to spot any additional details in his appearance. His eyes caught the boy's blue cape behind him, a badge in the shape of an American flag on his suit, a shiny jade amulet with an image of a feather in the middle of it hanging around his neck and his short height.

"Hello, America!" the child greeted the audience with a Southern accent, "My name is Li'l Gideon!"

He clapped twice before four doves flew out of his hair above the audience.

"That's Stan's mortal enemy?" Dipper said in disbelief.

"But he's so wittle!" Mabel responded, sharing the same thought as her brother.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is such a gift to have you here tonight!" Gideon spoke to the crowd again, "Such a gift. I have a _vision_. I predict that you will soon all say 'aww'."

Almost instantly, he turned around and posed in a cute manner which caused whatever Gideon predicted to come true.

"It came true," Mabel said in amazement.

"What? Anyone could've predicted that!" Dipper retorted, crossing his arms.

"Well he got most of my sisters in his trance," Lincoln replied, looking over at his siblings. Almost all of them were busy staring at Gideon with compassionate eyes, caught in his cuteness. In fact, only Lynn seemed immune to the look.

Back on stage, the boy called out to his dad to press something before a piano started playing in the background. Smiling, he started his musical number;

" _Oh, I can see, what others can't see,_

 _It ain't some sideshow trick, it's innate ability,_

 _Where others are blind, I am futurely inclined,_

 _And you too could see, if you were widdle ol' me!"_

He finished the verse with a chuckle, before he looked at the audience, "Come on everybody, rise up! I want y'all to keep it going!"

As if on cue, the whole audience suddenly stood up, including Dipper and the others.

"What-? How did he-?" Dipper stuttered. It felt strange; it was like something compelled him to stand up.

"Keep it going!" Gideon encouraged eagerly. He danced around on the stage while he looked around in the audience. He winked and pointed at an old lady holding a cat.

" _You wish your son would call you more."_

"I'm leaving everything to my cats!" the old woman chanted with a fist. Gideon pointed to a chubby black sheriff wearing a shirt with Gideon's face on it while holding Gideon dolls, lunchboxes and other merchandise.

" _I sense that you've been here before."_

"Oh, what gave it away?" the sheriff asked, impressed.

"Really?" Lincoln complained, annoyed at his obliviousness.

Gideon walked off the stage towards Mabel as he continued to sing.

" _I'll read your mind if I'm able,_

 _Something tells me you're named Mabel."_

He winked at her before returning to the main stage. However, it left an impression on the young girl.

"How did he know that?" Mabel asked in shock.

"You're wearing a sweater with your name on it," Lynn deadpanned, her eyes nudging to her clothing.

"He's still dreamy..." Mabel admitted to her, causing the older girl to roll her eyes.

" _So welcome all ye... to the Tent of Telepathy."_

"And thanks for visiting me... widdle ol' me!" Gideon finished, ending his little song with a pose. As he said his last word, a giant neon sign spelling his name hung down from the top. By the time it was finished, he was a sweaty mess, panting and trying to catch his breath while the audience clapped and cheered.

The boy grabbed a water bottle hidden underneath his suit and drunk from it before turning back to the crowd.

"Thank you! You people are the real miracles!" he thanked out loud. A barrage of applause was received as a response to the show.

"Woo! Yeah!" cheered Mabel along with the crowd.

* * *

After another thirty minutes of Gideon's 'magic tricks' and 'fortune tellings', everyone left the tent happy and satisfied with the show. While most of Lincoln's other siblings stayed around to buy some merchandise, Lincoln walked out with Lynn and the Pine twins towards the van,

"Man," Dipper started, "That kid is an even bigger fraud than Stan! No wonder he's jealous."

Lynn laughed and nodded in agreement, "Yeah, imagine all the money he makes for making all those 'predictions'!"

"Oh come on," Mabel playfully disagreed, "His dance moves were adorable. And did you see his hair? It was like... whoosh!"

"You're too easily impressed," Lincoln pointed out, letting out a small laugh.

"Yeah, yeah," Mabel jokingly agreed, punching the white-haired boys' shoulder lightly.

* * *

The next day on their lunch break, the four of them were relaxing in the living room when Mabel came into the room, her face covered in sequins.

"Hey guys, look!" Mabel got everyone's attention, "I successfully bezazzled my face! Blink!"

She blinked in correlation, a few of the sequins falling off in the process, "Ow!"

"But why?" Lincoln asked in confusion. They were only five minutes into their lunch break.

"Because it's fun!" she replied, sprinkling spare unused sequins into the air, "I'm unappreciated in my time!"

Before any of them could get any more questions, the doorbell rang.

"Somebody answer the door!" Stan ordered from beneath the walls.

"I'll get it!" Mabel replied, rubbing off the gems on her face as she ran towards the front door. She opened it, and for a brief moment, a wave of confusion hit her when she saw Gideon from yesterday.

"Howdy!" Gideon Gleeful greeted.

Her confusion quickly turned into excitement and happiness, "It's widdle ol' you!"

"Heh, heh, yeah," Gideon let out an awkward laugh, "My song's quite catchy. I know we haven't formally met, but after yesterday's performance, I just couldn't get your laugh out of my head."

"You mean this one?" Mabel asked before letting out a nervous laugh that was clearly forced. Thinking she embarrassed herself in front of him, she blushed an intense shade of red.

"Oh, what a delight! Now, when I saw you in the audience, I said to myself, 'Now there's a kindred spirit! Someone who appreciates the sparkly things in life'."

"Yeah, that's totally me!" Mabel laughed along, unintentionally coughing out some sequins onto Gideon's suit, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sor-"

"Enchanting. Utterly enchanting."

"Who's at the door?" Mabel could hear Stan call out from the shack.

"No one, Grunkle Stan!" she yelled back before turning her head to Gideon.

"I appreciate your discretion," the child psychic said politely, "Now; Stan's no fan of mine. I don't know how a lemon so sour could be related to a peach so sweet."

Mabel laughed in response, waving her hand playfully, "Oh Gideon..."

"What do you say we step away from here, and chat a bit more?" Gideon offered, "Perhaps, in my dressing room?"

"Wait really?" Mabel asked with excitement, "I mean, I would love to! Right now?"

Gideon just nodded in response which was immediately followed by Mabel joyfully cheering and poking him in the stomach.

"Ouch."

* * *

A couple of hours passed by before Mabel came back to the Mystery Shack after a successful day with Gideon. As she entered, she saw Dipper, Lincoln and Lynn still in the living room, pre-occupied with their activities. She attempted to get into the living room without anyone noticing when Lincoln spotted her almost immediately.

"Hey Mabel," Lincoln waved, "Where have you been?"

The rest of the kids paused and looked at Mabel. Dipper put his book down and eyed Mabel's change in appearance, noting her new makeup on her cheeks and her braided hairstyle, "And what's with your face? Did you have a makeover?"

"Yes Dipper, I did have a makeover," Mabel deadpanned to her brother.

"Those fingernails are kind of cool though," Lynn complimented, "You can scratch the eyeballs off your opponents in a game of rugby!"

"I know right?" Mabel roared cheerfully, pretending to attack her brother Dipper.

"But seriously," Lincoln interrupted her moment, "Where were you? All of us had to cover for you today. Without any overtime pay."

"I was hanging out with my new pal Gideon," Mabel stated, "He is one dapper little man!"

Dipper still had his suspicions, "Mabel, I don't trust anyone who's hair is bigger than their head."

"Oh, leave him alone will you?" Mabel defended him, "You never want to do girly stuff with me, and you and Soos get to do boy stuff all the time."

"How come this is the first time I've heard about this?" Lincoln crossed his arms, feeling slightly betrayed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Dipper asked, pretending to not know what he does on a Thursday afternoon. Before anyone could further question Dipper, the man popped his head into the living room with a packet of hotdogs in his right hand and a lighter in his left.

"Hey Dipper," he called out to him excitedly, "You ready to set fire to these hot dogs outside one by one?"

"Am I!" Dipper eagerly replied, before running off. Despite this, he felt Lincoln's and Lynn's glares directed at him, catching him in a lie. He paused halfway, hoping to make things a bit more clear, "I swear I'll explain all this later."

He ran off to the front, before completely disappearing out of everyone's view.

"Jerk," Lynn mumbled.

"Aww," Lincoln complained, "I wanted to set fire to some hot dogs as well."

* * *

The next day, Mabel and Gideon were sitting on the roof of a warehouse, high on a hill that overlooked the entire town of Gravity Falls.

"Whoa!" Mabel gasped, "The view from your family's factory is nuts! Good thing we both brought our..." she quickly grabbed something from her pocket.

"Opera glasses!" Mabel and Gideon cheered in unison.

Gideon glanced at her with a smile, "Mabel, when I'm up here looking at all these people, I feel like I'm the king of all that I survey. I guess that makes you my queen."

Mabel awkwardly laughed, "What? You're being so nice to me. Quit it," she shoved him playfully.

"Sorry but I can't quit it," Gideon replied, "I am speaking from the heart!"

Mabel blinked, "From the where now?"

"Mabel, I've never felt this close with anyone before. _So close_ ," He extended his hand into her hair, stroking it while giggling.

Mabel blushed and laughed as she gently brushed off his hand, "That tickles!"

"Sorry Mabel. Was that too close?"

"It's okay Gideon," Mabel reassured, shifting her head on Gideon's lap until she was in a comfortable position, "Just warn me next time."

Gideon nodded as he tried to touch Mabel's hair again but at a slower pace. Feeling at ease, Mabel smiled and closed his eyes.

"I, um..." Mabel's eyes drifted, "Can I ask you something?"

Gideon continued stroking her hair, "Anything."

Mabel took a deep breath before continuing, "I like you a lot Gideon, and I was wondering if..."

"You would like to go on a date with me?"

Mabel could see Gideon glaring at him. She was starting to feel sick, but she continued on strongly, "Yeah... but I'm not sure if you feel the same way?"

"What are you talking about Mabel?" Gideon exclaimed, "You have made me the happiest boy in the world! Of course I would go on a date with you! How about tomorrow?"

"Thanks Gideon!" Mabel leapt onto Gideon with a hug, accidentally knocking him to the ground in the process, "Oops sorry."

* * *

The next day in the afternoon, the four youngest employees of the Mystery Shack were again hanging out in the living room, this time playing some random fighting video game on the TV while also discussing Mabel's relationship with the psychic boy. Naturally, this led to Dipper and Lincoln reacting with shock.

"You're going on a date?"

"With Gideon?"

"Boys," Mabel shushed them, "Me and Gideon have this connection."

"You've only known him for three days," Lincoln pointed out.

"Lynn, back me up here," Mabel pleaded.

"No can do Mabel," Lynn shrugged, focusing on the video game they were playing rather than her situation, "I gotta beat these nerds at their own game."

"Who are you calling nerd?" Lincoln said in an annoyed tone.

"I still don't trust this Gideon person," Dipper voiced his opinions, before pressing the same button on his controller several times in a row.

"It's not a date-date. It's just, you know, a play date," defended Mabel, "Besides, I was the one who asked him first. I'll figure it will only be some silly small date. We won't be smooching on a table while taki-"

"Okay, firstly, gross," Dipper replied to his sister in disgust, "Secondly, you probably shouldn't have asked him. What if Grunkle Stan finds out about it?"

"Come on, none of you are going tell him right?" she asked, almost pleadingly. She looked and saw the two Loud siblings shake their heads.

Dipper rolled his eyes, and went with the rest of the group, "Fine, but you gotta know that guys will do anything to impress their first date."

"Yeah right! He's not _that_ into me," Mabel scoffed her brother. She looked at the television screen and saw an opening. Smirking, she unleashed a surprise attack, sending Dipper, Lincoln and Lynn's characters to their deaths.

"Kaboom! I win again!" Mabel cheered, pumping up her fist in the air.

Lynn was in shock over her loss, "Wait, how?"

"Down plus B! Down plus B!" Mabel answered smugly.

"I hate it when you play as Kirby,"

Before Mabel was about to come up with a snappy comeback to Lincoln's statement, the doorbell rang. Guessing it was Gideon, she ran and went to answer the door, "My date awaits!"

The door wasn't even fully open when Dipper and the others heard a loud squeal from the front. They decided to take a peek at the front, wondering what has gotten Mabel all excited. However, they didn't expect to see Gideon on the saddle of a white horse in the doorway, looking down at Mabel with lovesick eyes.

"A night of enchantment awaits, m'lady!" he said, smiling elegantly.

"Oh boy," Lincoln muttered under his breath as she saw Gideon and Mabel go out of the Shack together.

* * *

The aquatic-themed restaurant that Gideon had chosen for their date was spectacular, to say the least. In fact, it seemed that time flew by during the two hours that they were there. It was after 8:30, just almost at the end of the date as they were eating their last meal.

"I still can't believe they let us bring a horse in here!" Mabel laughed, finishing off her chocolate cake slice that she had ordered for dessert.

"Well, people have a hard time saying _no_ to me," he stated, as he rested his shoes on the table. A waiter walked by and stopped at their table, holding a jug of sparkling water.

"Ah, Monsieur Gideon," he addressed in a French accent, picking up the tableware from the two kids, "Ze feet on ze table. An excellent choice!"

"Jean-Luc," addressed Gideon, "What did we discuss about eye contact?"

The waiter then rolled his eyes before proceeding to walk away backwards, "Yes, yes, understood!"

"I've never eaten lobster with so many forks! And water with bubbles in it," Mabel squeaked in delight, referring to the aquarium next to them, "Ooh la la! Oui Oui!"

"Oh! _Parlez vous francais_?!"

Mabel froze for a second before she blushed, "...I have absolutely no idea what you just said."

Gideon laughed as he began to speak English again, "Mabel, I have got to say that tonight's date was a complete success. However, tomorrow's date will top this one in every way!"

Mabel was surprised, almost spitting out her water onto Gideon's face, "Whoa, whoa, are you taking me for another date?"

Oops, I guess I forgot to ask you," Gideon laughed innocently. He clapped his hands twice before a blue and gold macaw flew into the restaurant and landed on his arm, taking aback Mabel a bit.

The bird started to open its mouth quite abruptly, "WILL- YOU- TAKE- GIDEON- TO- THE- BALLROOM- DANCE- THIS- THIRSTDAY?"

Gideon coughed.

"THURSDAY!" the bird repeated with proper pronunciation.

"Sorry about that," Gideon apologised, "My pet is still learning how to say more sophisticated words."

During this turn of events, a crowd of people have gathered around Gideon and Mabel's table.

"Oh, so adorable!" a woman exclaimed.

"Gideon's got ze girlfriend on ze menu!" the French waiter smiled.

"I'm on the edge of my seat!" said one of the sheriffs eating there.

"They're expecting us. Please say you'll go!" Gideon subtly pleaded.

Mabel expressed a little discomfort, but that didn't stop her from saying how she actually felt...

* * *

"You said yes?" Dipper asked again with shock and anger on his face.

"Yeah!" Mabel stated the facts, "And I'll be seeing him today at the ballroom dance!"

"The more you hang out with Gideon, the more I'm starting to suspect he's up to no good," Lincoln confessed, frowning, "He's starting to get clingy!"

"You gotta break up with him," Dipper urged, "It's starting to get out of hand."

Mabel rolled her eyes, "How is my relationship with Gideon getting out of hand?"

Lincoln grabbed a newspaper of the _Gravity Falls Gossiper_ from underneath a couch pillow, showing the two smiling and holding hands at the restaurant, "You're lucky that our boss didn't see this."

"Didn't see what?"

Lincoln turned around and saw Stan behind him, a menacing look on his face, "Hi Mr Pines! We were just talking about video games."

Stan didn't buy it for one second. Instinctively, he grabbed the newspaper off the white-haired boy and took a glance at the front page. Expectedly, it only took that much for the old man to realise what was going on, "Hey, hey! What the jackal are you doing next to that crazy pickpocket Gideon?"

"Oh yeah," Mabel nervously chuckled, "We're just becoming great friends."

"Great friends that are dating," Lynn casually added.

"WHAT?! That little shyster is dating my great niece!"

"He's not a bad person Grunkle Stan! " Mabel tried to defend her date, "Once you get to know him, he's actually a sweet and loveable guy."

"You don't know him like I do," Stan grumbled, "Either way, this ends tonight! I'm going to that little skunks' house!"

Stan pointed his finger at Mabel, "This stops right now! Mabel, you're forbidden from seeing Gideon ever again!"

"Wait what?"

"You heard me!" her Grunkle Stan groaned in frustration as he walked away. Once Mabel was certain he was out of the room, her worried eyes darted to her friends.

"Uh, Mabel," Lincoln placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Mabel gently shook her shoulder with a small smile, "Yeah, i'm okay. This just means I need to be a lot stealthier when I go out tonight."

Dipper raised an eyebrow, "You're still going to the ballroom dance with Gideon?"

"Why not? I promised him that I would come dancing with him."

Her brother questioned her logic, "He's still going to find that you're not at the house."

"Which is why I'll be _staying_ with Lincoln and Lynn over at their place; right?" She winked as she said the word 'stay', hoping that her friends would get the hint.

"I dunno Mabel," Lincoln started to back away, "I don't really feel comfortable getting involved in any of this."

"Please?" Mabel was practically begging at this point, using her puppy-dog eyes to lure Lincoln and Lynn in.

Lincoln sighed and gave in, "Okay Mabel. But you owe me one."

"And me too!" Lynn chimed in.

"Thanks you two!" Mabel smiled as she tightly hugged the both of them. A second later, a strange odour of sweat got into Mabel's nostrils, "Lynn, were you working out just before?"

* * *

A couple of hours later, Gideon had brought Mabel down to the lake after dancing. Currently, McGucket was rowing the boat they were in.

"Boat in the night! Boat in the night!" McGucket cackled.

"Hah, you know I thought dancing was gonna be the end of the evening, right?" Mabel let out a nervous laugh.

Gideon held on to Mabel's hand calmly and asked softly, "Don't you want this evenin' to last?"

"Not really," Mabel blurted out before immediately correcting himself, "I mean of course I do! I'm just worried about getting my friends into trouble."

"How so?"

Mabel sighed, "Grunkle Stan doesn't want me to be seen with you anymore, and I kinda owe them for covering for me... again."

Gideon grinned evilly, Mabel being completely oblivious about that, "Oh don't worry about your great uncle, Mabel. I'm sure by tomorrow, he will _completely understand_ that there's nothing to worry about," he subtly tensed up as he said those words.

The young psychic boy wasn't the only one who was affected by those words as Mabel started to develop a small sense of discomfort for the first time in days. She was going to ask Gideon to deliberate when fireworks flared up into the sky, spelling out Mabel's name with an outline of a heart surrounding it.

"Maybe I'm just paranoid," she thought to herself. After all, why would Gideon hide something from her if they both in love?

* * *

Fortunately for Mabel, the words that Gideon said before their night ended left her brain the next day after, brushing it off as paranoia. Instead, she thought about when Gideon's next date is going to be. During her scheduled lunch break in the living room with Lincoln and her brother Dipper, Mabel started to pace herself around the room, excited at the prospect. Dipper was the first to notice his sister's erratic behaviour.

"Is something wrong Mabel?" Dipper asked with concern, putting the journal down.

"Sorry Dipper, I'm just over-thinking today."

Lynn walked in, sweating from a recent workout, "Is this all about another date with Gideon?"

"Maybe, okay yes I am," Mabel was getting stressed out with all these questions getting fired at her, "It's just... Gideon is just so sweet, and now... I'm thinking I'm going crazy for him."

"Did anything unusual happen on your last date?" Lincoln asked.

"We just went ballroom dancing before Gideon took us to a lake. The only thing strange about the boat ride was what he said at the end," Mabel recalled, "Something about making Grunkle Stan understand or something. It sounded a bit ominous, but maybe I'm being paranoid."

"That is suspicious," Dipper muttered to himself, taking a mental note.

"However, I am looking on the bright side," Mabel remained optimistic, "I may still be in the dating stage of the relationship, but I have a good feeling that I'm going to marry him soon."

As if on cue, Stan entered at the exact moment, wearing a white shirt with the words 'TEAM GIDEON' written on the front, "Great news Mabel. You're going to have to marry Gideon!" he shouted happily.

"What?!" everyone yelled out, mostly in shock

"It's all part of my long term deal with Buddy Gleeful," he explained, unaware of what some of the kids really felt about the matter, "There's a lot of cash tied up to this thing. Plus I got this shirt."

Stan looked down at his protruding stomach for a second, making a sound of disgust, "Ugh, I am fat."

Mabel screamed in delight and jumped up and down, much to the surprise of her brother and her friends. She leapt onto her Grunkle Stan, engaging onto a full-on hug, "I'm so happy you support us now!"

Stan playfully gave Mabel a noogie, "Gideon is busy making preparations for the wedding right now so you won't be able to see him today. However, you can help me decorate the Shack with Gideon merchandise."

The two of them walked away until only the three kids were left in the room. Unfortunately for her brother, Dipper couldn't understand how this was even possible. Frustrated, he ran out to his bedroom, leaving Lincoln and Lynn alone in the living room together.

"I better go talk to Dipper," Lincoln said to Lynn before walking away.

* * *

Lincoln opened the Pine twins' bedroom door and saw Dipper lying on his old bed, his body laid on top of the blanket.

"Dipper?"

Dipper got up from lying down and sat down, "Hi Lincoln."

"Anything wrong?"

"Yeah, there's plenty of things wrong!" Dipper snapped at him only to immediately calm down, "Sorry, I'm just wrapping my head around it."

Dipper walked back and forth, "It's just so fast. One day Mabel's got a date with Grunkle Stan's biggest nemesis and the next day, they're getting married."

"Maybe you're just jealous?"

"What?" Dipper replied flabbergasted, "No way! Okay, maybe a little but doesn't it bother you that Mabel has only known Gideon for a week and they're now getting married."

"Now that you say it like that, yeah it's a bit fast," Lincoln was starting to understand Dipper's point.

"Remember when my sister's first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes?" Dipper asked, getting his friend to recall that series of events.

"Yeah," Lincoln let out a little laugh, "But I'm sure that Mabel isn't dating three gnomes in a trenchcoat. Well, I hope not anyway."

Dipper took out the journal and flipped to a page that outlined some hypnotic charm, a pair of green earrings that used the power of suggestion to persuade their targets, "I have a theory that Gideon is hypnotising my sister in loving him."

Lincoln took a closer look at the page, skimming through the text, "Maybe that's not it. I have never seen Gideon wear something like that."

"Both of us may have never seen it, but it doesn't rule out the possibility that Gideon wears them when only Mabel is around."

Dipper smiled.

"Are you suggesting something Dipper?" Lincoln raised an eyebrow.

"How about we sneak into the factory that Gideon owns tonight?" Dipper spoke up, "He must have that charm somewhere hidden."

Lincoln could only roll his eyes in disbelief as Dipper went on about Gideon and what potential artefacts or powers he might possess, "How would you know he has a factory?"

"Mabel told me when she was constantly talking about her dates with Gideon," Dipper explained. He brought out a large map, with a drawing of a building and a large X circled in red ink, "Luckily, we can find out what sort of little secrets Gideon is hiding."

"Isn't that in the middle of the woods? At night?" Lincoln paused to consider why he was going along with Dipper's idea in the first place, "I'm sure my parents wouldn't allow me to do that."

"Just tell them you're having a sleepover with Mabel and me," Dipper answered, "Can you do this for me please?"

The only boy in the Loud family looked closely at Dipper. From the look he was giving, Lincoln felt that he was Dipper's only friend here. He sighed, not wanting to feel guilty, "Okay, I'll help."

* * *

At sunset, using one of the property-owned Mystery Shack carts, the two boys drove themselves into the woods, following the roads that took them to the warehouse. The drive there was moderately smooth and short for the most part, but with only a dirt road in front of them and trees to their left and right, it was easy to understand why Lincoln's parents (and even possibly Dipper's Grunkle) might worry about them getting lost. Eventually, after many twists and turns, they finally reached a dead end, leading directly to the secret factory, which was situated on top of a steep hill. Not wanting to be seen, the two of them parked the golf cart behind a nearby tree, before jumping off their vehicle to explore.

With a flashlight in his right hand and the map in his left, Dipper carefully looked at the parched up paper, comparing the drawing of the building to the real thing in front of them.

"This is it," Dipper told Lincoln, giving him a spare flashlight and a disposable camera, "We better sneak around the back in case Gideon is here."

"Good thinking."

They started to move by walking around the edge of the area, being extra careful to make sure that no-one noticed them. Stealthily, Dipper and Lincoln reached the back side of the warehouse, where they encountered a wooden door that was strangely unlocked.

"It's like we're in the start of some horror movie," Dipper nervously chuckled, trying to ease both his and Dipper's fears of being in a dark forest at sunset.

"Who knows, maybe it is," Lincoln joked, as he slowly pushed the door open, making a loud creaking noise in the process. Once enough space had been created, the two squeezed through the gap and entered the pitch black building.

Turning on the flashlights and staying close together, the two used their lights to find anything supernatural or out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for them, as they looked around further and longer, shining their flashlights on almost everything, they only found normal things that one would expect to find in a warehouse such as cardboard boxes, discarded merchandise and piles of papers detailing the shipments for each month.

Realising how much time they spent searching and estimating that his flashlight battery is going to run out, Lincoln decided to give up and call off the search, "We've searched everywhere! I don't think there's _anything_ remotely weird other than his creepy desire for himself. Let's just go."

Defeated, Dipper sighed, "Yeah, I guess we just wasted our time here."

They retraced their steps and attempted to exit the building, but when they got to the door, they found it to be slammed shut.

"I swear that door wasn't locked before," Lincoln mumbled out of frustration, trying to jiggle at the doorknob but to no avail.

"Yeah, I think we might be slowly losing our minds," Dipper muttered.

Before any of the two boys could try another exit, some of the lights suddenly turned on one by one, laying out a path further into the building. With no other option, they reluctantly followed the chain of lights, unaware that they were walking right into a trap. After a minute of blindly walking on the path, they soon found themselves in a long, almost empty corridor where they saw a single pink swivel chair facing backwards standing ominously at the end.

"Why do I have a feeling that someone was watching us the whole time?" Dipper murmured.

" _That's because there was._ "

Even though Gideon's distinct southern accent killed the suspense of the situation, it didn't stop the psychic boy from turning around in his chair dramatically, " _What a surprise to see you two here trespassing!_ "

"I thought you were back in town already," said Dipper.

"Did you really think I would be stupid enough to leave this factory unattended, unlocked, potentially allowing two small boys to sneak in and ruin my secret and elaborate plan to take ownership to the Mystery Shack?!" Gideon asked condescendingly.

"Wait," Lincoln was piecing together the new information he just heard, "Secret plan? Ownership? Mystery Shack?"

Dipper was almost at a loss for words, "You... never really liked Mabel... did you?"

Gideon laughed maniacally, "Couldn't you tell? Who would want to go out with an annoying and stupid girl who is always sickeningly happy to the point where it makes me want to puke?"

Lincoln could see Dipper's face turn red in anger as he ran towards Gideon with a closed fist, "Mabel is not just some stupid girl!"

Seeing Dipper angry only entertained the psychic boy, "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned before immediately putting his hand on his amulet, causing a greenish glow to envelop him.

Dipper noticed the faint light from his body, but it didn't slow down his path. Gideon casually shrugged before raising his free hand up, causing Dipper's body to be pushed back into a pile of his merchandise, "How long have you two been living in this town? A week? Two? You like it here? Enjoying the scenery?"

"What do you want from us, Gideon?" Lincoln called out.

"Listen carefully. This town has secrets, some that neither of you could even begin to comprehend!" He said sinisterly, "It's a real darn shame that your little adventures end here."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Lincoln asked, stuttering a little in fear.

"You're a decent fellow Lincoln, but you've heard too much," Gideon replied honestly, with a tinge of coldness in his voice, "I just can't risk you blabbering about my tiny little plot."

Scared out of his mind, Lincoln immediately attempted to run away but didn't even get a single step when he was caught by Gideon's levitation, "Nice try."

Nearby, an almost defeated Dipper got up from his fall and attempted to fight him again, unintentionally becoming clumsy with his attack. Gideon chuckled and levitated Dipper as well.

"Grunkle Stan was right about you; you **ARE** a monster!" Dipper yelled at the top of his voice.

Gideon just rolled his eyes, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know already. I think I'll start with you first."

Using the power of the amulet, the young psychic lifted a pair of lamb shears dangerously close to him, his intention made very clear. However, before Dipper final moment came out, he heard a female voice from the other room.

"Gideon! I've heard enough!"

Gideon lost concentration when he heard Mabel's voice, causing the amulet to lose a little bit of its magic, dropping the lamb shears to the ground, "Mabel, what are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Gideon," said Mabel, "But after everything you said, it's clear that you were just using me."

Gideon was going to speak up, but Mabel beat him to it, "That's why I'm breaking it off. Gideon, I won't marry you anymore."

The psychic boy gave a menacing grin, "Maybe you won't now... but you should really reconsider," he squeezed his amulet a little tighter, making the flow of magic stronger, suffocating the two boys.

"Uh, Mabel," Dipper choked, gasping for air, "That probably wasn't the time to be brutally honest with him!"

"We're... slowly losing... air here," Lincoln gasped, "Help us... please!"

"How about a little proposal," Gideon was negotiating, walking closer to Mabel, "If you agree to marry me, I'll let go of one of them!"

"What sort of sadistic choice is that?" Mabel whined, shocked that the boy she once knew was now shown as a cruel monster.

Gideon held out his hand, hoping that his plans could still go further, "You can go with the other option and save none of them. It's up to you."

From her perspective, she was faced with a harsh decision that would have undesirable consequences either way she chooses. Dipper was her brother who was always by her side and would always comfort her whenever she would be feeling down, but on the other hand, Lincoln was one of the only friends she had made during the time she spent in Gravity Falls. She needed to find a third option to take and fast.

"Your friends are waiting," Gideon taunted.

Mabel sighed, seemingly defeated, "Okay you win, I'll marry you," she reached her hand towards Gideon.

"Wait, really?" Gideon said surprised, expecting it to bit more difficult.

However, his underestimation was his downfall as Mabel's hand was actually reaching towards the amulet, ripping it from his neck and setting her friends free, "No not really! You really thought I would be dumb enough to let you get away with this? What the heck?"

Gideon was in a state of anger and panic, "Give it back," he demanded, aiming to take the medallion back from her.

Mabel had other ideas as he tossed the tie to Lincoln who was nearby a window. He caught it and took a glance at it.

"Hey, this looks like the amulet I got at the Mystery Shac-" Lincoln commented before being cut short by Gideon who tackled him out the window, leaving the two of them falling down outside.

"Lincoln!" Dipper screamed in horror.

Currently in freefall, Gideon and Lincoln were fighting each other, eager to get the last hit on the other boy. The two of them could tell that they're both approaching the ground at a rapidly accelerating rate, but it still didn't stop them from resorting to petty slaps.

Strangely, before they hit the ground, Gideon and Lincoln were stopped by an invisible force. Noticing that they were still alive, they saw their bodies be surrounded the same glow that Gideon used with the amulet. Wondering who had control of the amulet at the time, they looked around for the current user of the magical item. Two sets of eyes turned to Mabel, who was floating in the air, clutching onto the amulet with her hand. To the left of her, was her fainted brother also enveloped in a greenish glow.

"Listen Gideon, it's over! I will never, ever, marry you!" declared Mabel, turning to Gideon with a stern and angry look on her face.

"Yeah!" Lincoln chimed in before he was gently lifted onto the ground by Mabel with everyone else. Knowing that such an item could be easily exploited, Mabel immediately threw it at a nearby sharp looking rock, shattering it into pieces and disappearing into green smoke.

"My POWERS!" Gideon yelled in horror upon the realisation of Mabel's intentions. He glared back at her coldly, "Oh this isn't over. This isn't the last you'll see of _wittle... ol' me_!"

Almost every single word in that sentence chilled her to the bone for some reason, as if he had more plots and schemes hidden. Maybe it was the way he had said it? Perhaps it was because he was walking backwards into the dark forest without taking a single eye of her? Those thoughts were replaced with comfort when he felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry about Gideon..."

She smiled back at Lincoln, "It's alright; you guys were just protecting me."

"Thankfully, it wasn't mind-controlling earrings that Gideon was using."

Mabel looked at Lincoln confusingly which he noticed straight away.

"I'll explain tomorrow," Lincoln assured.

Mabel spoke again, "I'm just bummed out that my second boyfriend turned out to someone else entirely."

Lincoln was the one that smiled back, "We're still at the beginning of summer vacation. Maybe you'll get lucky on your third try."

Mabel laughed, "Yeah, maybe..."

Before the two of them could share anymore alone time, Mabel's brother regained consciousness, "What just happened?"

"Hey, you're back!" Mabel cheered, helping Dipper get back on his feet, "Gideon turned out to be a big meanie, and now without his magical amulet, he's powerless now! I'm just happy that you showed up here at the right time!"

"Speaking of which," Lincoln started pondering, "How did you actually get here?"

"I asked Wendy to drive me there," Mabel explained, pointing at a golf-cart where Wendy was sitting down, wearing headphones. Her eyes were fixated on the smartphone, texting and messaging her friends on the screen.

Thankfully, Wendy looked up when she saw the three kids walk up towards her, all of them looking worn out and bruised. Pulling her headphones out of her ears, she looked at them with confusion, "What happened to you three?"

"Gideon."

"Gideon."

"Yep, definitely Gideon."

"Gideon," Wendy repeated, with a lax voice, "Yeah, I never really got why people were into him in the first place. He definitively has that petty vibe to him. At least you three are still alright... mostly."

"Yeah, I'm just relieved that it's finally over," Lincoln yawned, "What is he going to now? Use his little fingers to try and tickle us to death?"

Dipper shared a laughed with Lincoln, "Oh yeah, he's powerless now! Is he going to try and guess what number we're thinking of?"

"He'll never guess what number I'm thinking of," Mabel boasted, " _Negative eight_! No-one will guess a negative number!"

Wendy decided to join in the kids' laughter. "Uh oh, he's planning on destruction right now," she joked, playfully tackling the three to the dirt. They toppled down to the ground but were still laughing in the midst of it, knowing that they had snatched victory once again.

* * *

Inside a dark room, Gideon was making to his replica model of the Mystery Shack, which would have looked impressive as a school art project. Next to the replica, he slowly painted each of the employees over some miniature wood dolls, making sure that he can distinguish their faces from another. It only took around an hour but by the time he was done his art was complete as he took a look at all the dolls.

Gideon grabbed the Mabel doll and spoke as if she was actually speaking, "Oh Gideon, I will never ever marry you!"

He picked up the Stan doll next, "Look at me! I'm old and smelly!"

Putting down the Stan doll, he picked up the Lincoln doll last, mocking the young boy's voice, "What are you gonna do without your amulet?!"

Gideon put the dolls down and placed them all in the Shack, except Lincoln's, which he put on a photo of a younger girl with her black hair covering her eyes and her face showing indifference. There was a red circle marked around the picture of the girl, "You'll see boy..."

He reached over and grabbed another book, which was currently open to the page that showed the amulet he lost. Gideon closed the book, revealing a yellow six-fingered hand symbol and the number two on the cover.

" _You'll see..._ "

 **Author's Note: I said earlier that "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel" was a good episode but I felt if I went with the original store elements with Mabel slowly not liking Gideon and Gideon having a deep obsession with her, it would feel uninspired and lazy. That's why I went offroads a little, making Gideon more of a manipulative character with a clear motive that he wants to take the Mystery Shack from Stan. Unlike in the series where Gideon still has some sort of creepy obsession with Mabel, Gideon was clearly using her to get to the Shack. Mainly, the main plot elements of the episode hasn't changed and the outcome is still the same but the way they got to those elements were different.**

 **Next up on the list is The Inconveniencing. I won't spoil much but the core four team of Mabel, Dipper, Lincoln and Lynn will temporarily shrink into a trio.**


End file.
